Attached for your information is a report on the actions taken and
present status of the various matters raised during the course of Prime
Minister Kishi’s visit.
[Attachment]
REPORT ON FOLLOW-UP ACTIONS ON KISHI VISIT
1. Intergovernmental Committee–On July 12 you
wrote to Secretary Wilson2 requesting
Department of Defense concurrence in the establishment of an
Intergovernmental Committee in Tokyo, headed by Ambassador MacArthur. Mr. Quarles replied to
your letter on August 33
concurring in the designation of Ambassador MacArthur as Chairman of the
Committee, and designating CINCPAC as a member and principal military and defense
adviser on the Committee with COMUS
Japan as his alternate. A simultaneous press
release4 was issued by the Japanese Foreign Office and
Embassy Tokyo on August 6 announcing the establishment of the
Committee to be called the “Japanese-American Committee on
Security”. The American membership is as indicated above and the
Japanese are represented by the Foreign Minister and the Director
General of the Defense Agency, with other cabinet members
participating when deemed necessary. The terms of reference of the
Committee correspond to the three points mentioned in the Joint
Communiqué. Working arrangements for the Committee were approved by
the Departments of State and Defense on August 13. The first meeting
was held on August 16.
2. Ryukyu Islands–Flag Question–State–Defense
agreement has been reached that the United States should not, at
this time, agree that the Japanese flag be flown in the Ryukyu
Islands. Ambassador MacArthur has been informed of this decision but
will delay informing the Japanese until a more propitious time.
3. Ryukyu Islands–Real Estate–A letter was
sent from Mr. Jones, Acting
Assistant Secretary FE, to Assistant
Secretary Sprague on July
165
requesting Defense to provide general statistics resulting from the
FEC land assessment which could
be used in a statement to the Japanese
[Page 445]
on land utilization in the Ryukyus. A reply
has not yet been received from the Department of Defense.6
4. Ryukyuan Emigration–The question of
allowing Ryukyuan emigration to the Trust Territories is now under
consideration in the Department.
5. Bonin Islands–Repatriation, Compensation and
Visits–Mr. Robertson
wrote to Assistant Secretary Sprague on July 137 recommending the following action with
regard to the foregoing: (1) that an urgent survey be made to
determine how many persons Haha Jima and other unoccupied islands in
the Bonins could support so that this information will be available
before arriving at a final decision on repatriation to the Bonins;
(2) that we inform the Japanese that the United States is prepared
to compensate those former residents whose property has been
expropriated or used by United States military forces, and
requesting the Japanese to present evidence of private property
holdings in the Bonins and (3) that the Department of Defense concur
in permitting some sort of organized visits to the Bonins of
properly cleared former residents who desire to visit ancestral
graves.
Mr. Sprague’s letter of reply,
dated August 8, 1957,8 argued against repatriation and visits
to graves on military and security grounds and said that
consequently, a survey to determine the capacity of the islands to
support Japanese repatriates would serve no useful purpose. The
position outlined in this letter, however, was superseded by the
discusssion in which Mr. Robertson, Admiral
Radford and Mr. Sprague participated at the State–JCS meeting on August 9.9 An understanding was reached in that meeting
that the Department of Defense would advise the Department of the
results of a survey to determine the number of people the Islands
can support and of possible arrangements for visits by Japanese to
ancestral graves. Defense agreed generally with the approach to the
compensation problem outlined in Mr. Robertson’s letter and suggested that
representatives of the two Departments meet to seek agreement on a
recommended course of action. Mr. Robertson concurred in this suggestion in a reply to
Mr. Sprague’s letter dated
August 16, 1957.10
6. United States Force Levels in Japan–A press
release regarding the withdrawal of the First Cavalry Division was
made on August 1 and a further release on the redeployment of the
elements of the Third Marine Division now in Japan to Okinawa was
made on August 7. Mr.
[Page 446]
Robertson wrote to Assistant
Secretary Sprague on July 11
requesting to be informed of plans regarding the timing and numbers
of withdrawals of United States forces from Japan in the coming
months.11 No reply has
been received.12
The Department of Defense, with our concurrence, has sent an
instruction to CINCPAC,13 the Chief of MAAG in Japan
and COMUS Japan informing those
military commands that the United States should not offer advice on
Japanese force levels or composition thereof unless so requested by
Japan.
7. War Criminals, Class A–The concurrence of
the Clemency and Parole Board has been obtained to a course of
action providing for reduction in sentence to time served or
termination of parole supervision with regard to the Class A
parolees. This course of action is presently under consideration by
the Japanese.
8. Textile Laws–On July 25 you sent letters to
the Attorney General and the Secretary of Commerce requesting
continued efforts to obtain repeal or invalidation of the Alabama
and South Carolina State textile laws.14 On August 2 the Assistant Secretary of
Commerce reported to the Acting Secretary that from a practical
viewpoint it appears that it will not be possible to obtain
voluntary repeal of these laws for two or three years since a
reversal of the position of the proponents of these laws cannot be
obtained so soon after their enactment. The Acting Secretary urged
and it was agreed that the matter would be further explored by the
Commerce Department and would be reviewed again in the fall.15 Both the Secretary of Commerce and the
Deputy Attorney General have made cooperative replies to your letter
of July 25.16
9. Japan’s Financial Position–Approval has
been given for short term Export-Import Bank loans to japan of $115
million for grains and
[Page 447]
cotton.17 An Export-Import Bank
commercial credit of $60 million for cotton, in line with similar
cotton credits in previous years, is assured. The Export-Import Bank
has also announced a loan of $10.3 million to Fuji Iron and Steel
Company and $7.3 million to Tohoku Electric Company. Still pending
before the Export-Import Bank are about $70 million in other
Japanese loan applications.
Japan is expected to seek an “impact” loan from the IBRD in the neighborhood of $300
million in order to maintain liquidity of foreign exchange
reserves.
One-half of Japan’s quota of $250 million has been drawn from the
IMF.
The Department, subject to the lending criteria of the IBRD and Export-Import Bank and any
special policy considerations, should support the remaining Japanese
loan applications. Thereafter, this question should be withdrawn
from the category “Kishi visit
follow-up” and revert to normal status with continuing interest in
Japan’s balance of payments problem.
10. GARIOA–The United States did not raise with the Prime
Minister the question of a GARIOA
settlement, owing to Japan’s difficult balance of payments position.
On the United States side, the Interdepartmental Committee under
Kenneth Young’s
chairmanship has been requested to explore possible ways in which
the GARIOA claim could be settled
in a manner which would promote increased unity among Free Asian
countries.
The question should not be raised with Japan until after the first of
the year, if then, depending upon financial and political
developments. As soon as the Japanese financial position would
tolerate new obligations, and if there is no political obstacle such
as the imminence of a general election, an appropriate GARIOA settlement should be
requested, taking account of possible collateral benefits to
regional economic development.
Hereafter this matter can be treated as one requiring normal,
continuing action and removed from the “Kishi visit follow-up” category.
11. Southeast Asian Economic Cooperation–Prime
Minister Kishi’s proposals
were referred to the interagency committee under the chairmanship of
Mr. Kenneth Young for an
early report. The Department has now received this report.18 The Department should
consider the Committee’s recommendations and prepare an early and
appropriate response to the Japanese.
[Page 448]
12. Japanese Vested Assets–Nothing specific
has been done with respect to Japanese vested assets. However, just
prior to and since the Prime Minister’s visit there have been the
extensive discussions regarding German vested assets and United
States war claims against Germany with which you are familiar. These
discussions resulted in the White House announcement of July 31,
1957 concerning vested German assets. The final paragraph of this
announcement indicates that an effort will be made to present to the
next session of Congress a plan for dealing with Japanese vested
assets. FE believes we should give
full consideration to the limited return to former Japanese
individual (natural person) owners specified in the Administration
bills introduced in the last and the present Congress.
13. China Trade Controls–Japan aligned CHINCOM with COCOM controls effective July 30.
In the recent IL/II quota discussions in Paris the Japanese initially
took an independent line and made unrealistically high quota demands
for items in which they are particularly interested. However, within
the limitations of their position which called for the abolition of
the CHINCOM differential, they
responded to United States requests for support and cooperated in
keeping 1957 quotas at a level to which the United Sates could
agree. Japan should again be requested to cooperate in keeping
quotas low when COCOM–CHINCOM meets to set 1958 levels
for the European Soviet Bloc and Communist China.
14. Offshore Procurement–This question was not
discussed with the Prime Minister, although he did express
appreciation of this type of assistance. The Department decided,
however, that it should support the continuation of the offshore
procurement program in Japan at a substantial level. No specific
action has been deemed necessary so far. The Defense Department
presentation of the proposed FY 1958 MDAP aid programs indicated that a substantial
proportion of worldwide offshore procurement was contemplated for
placement in Japan. Hereafter, this can be treated as a subject of
normal continuing action and removed from the category of “Kishi visit follow-up”.
15. Temporary Agricultural Labor–Mr. Murphy has arranged to hold a
meeting on August 19 with Secretary of Labor Mitchell and General
Swing of the Immigration and Naturalization Service at which the
Department of State will attempt to obtain concurrence in expanding
the program to a fixed ceiling of 3,000 persons.
16. Disarmament Developments–The United States
delegation in London was requested to continue to supply detailed
background information to the Japanese, especially as regards the
United States position on nuclear tests.
