Editorial
Skeletons in the closet: Foreign Ministry launches probes into secret dealings with U.S.
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has ordered the Foreign Ministry to complete a probe into secret pacts between Japan and the U.S. by the end of November. The ministry should take this opportunity to pursue the matter thoroughly, and clear the doubts lingering in the public's mind to prove the true worth of regime change.
Okada ordered an investigation into four secret accords, including one on the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japan and another on combat operations in times of emergency on the Korean Peninsula, struck at the time of the revision of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty in January 1960; as well as an agreement on the introduction of nuclear weapons in case of emergencies, and one on shouldering the expense of restoring land in Okinawa used by the U.S. military to its original state upon reversion, which were reached at the time of the return of Okinawa Prefecture to Japan in 1972.
While the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty revision stipulated that the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japan would be subject to prior consultation, the two countries secretly agreed to allow nuclear-armed vessels to make port calls in Japan and pass through Japan's territorial waters freely. In addition, it was agreed that the U.S. military would be permitted to depart for missions from U.S. bases in Japan in times of emergency on the Korean Peninsula, without prior discussion.
These secret pacts were revealed through official U.S. documents, but Japan's former Administrative Vice Foreign Minister Ryohei Murata also admitted that he was briefed about the secret agreement concerning nuclear-armed U.S. vessels by his predecessor in writing when he took his post, and that he did the same for his successor.
Japanese and U.S. heads of state had agreed that Japan would not refuse the introduction of nuclear weapons to Okinawa during a state of emergency, as revealed in a memoir written by Kei Wakaizumi, a former Kyoto Sangyo University professor who was sent to negotiate with U.S. officials as then Prime Minister Eisaku Sato's special emissary. Bunroku Yoshino, then American Bureau chief of the Foreign Ministry, has also gone public about his involvement in negotiations concerning the costs of restoring land used by the U.S. military when Okinawa was reverted to Japan.
Because there are approximately 2,700 volumes of records concerning the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and about 570 volumes of records regarding Okinawa's reversion to Japan at the Foreign Ministry according to Okada, there is talk of calling on personnel at diplomatic offices abroad to return to Japan temporarily to sort through the information. After the investigation is underway, the ministry also plans to set up a third-party committee to conduct interviews with former ministry officials and also expects to extend their probe to the U.S.
The secret deals between Japan and the U.S. were struck during a period of U.S.-Soviet hostility. As the Cold War order has collapsed and international circumstances have changed drastically since then, there is no longer a logical reason to keep denying that the secret agreements existed. Foreign Minister Okada has said that the issue is only serving to promote a sense of distrust among the public. The ministry must actively engage in the investigation with the understanding that only with heightened transparency can it participate in diplomacy backed by the people.
Meanwhile, in the case that the Japanese government acknowledges the existence of the secret pacts, it is important to have decided how Japan will maintain its consistency with the three non-nuclear principles as a nation whose security is dependent on the deterrence capability of the American nuclear umbrella.
(Mainichi Japan) September 18, 2009