Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, Asia and the Pacific, Volume VI, Part 1

Lot 54D423

The Consultant to the Secretary (Dulles) to the Secretary of Defense (Marshall)

secret

Washington, July 10, 1951.

My Dear Mr. Secretary: There is enclosed herewith for your approval or comment the draft of the United States–Japan Security Treaty which, it is intended, shall come into force simultaneously with the coming into force, between the United States and Japan, of the Treaty of Peace.

This draft has been coordinated informally with the Departments of State and Defense and has been shown to representatives of the Japanese Government who have indicated that it is acceptable.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee have been kept generally informed as to the contents of this proposed Treaty and they have indicated general approval. I have also discussed the draft informally with the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who indicated their general approval of the Treaty but who also felt that prior to signature there should be an Executive Session of the Senate Armed Services Committee at which the Department of Defense would acquaint the Committee of the military aspects of the implementation of the Treaty. Probably there should be a similar hearing before the House Armed Services Committee.

I would appreciate therefore the prompt receipt of any comments you may care to make and thereafter I will get in touch with you with reference to setting up such Congressional Committee hearings as may be appropriate.

I am

Sincerely yours,

John Foster Dulles

[Enclosure]

Draft

secret

July 10, 1951.

U.S.–Japan Security Treaty

preamble

Japan has this day signed a Treaty of Peace with the Allied Powers. On the coming into force of that Treaty, Japan will not have the effective means to exercise its inherent right of self-defense because it has been disarmed.

There is danger to Japan in this situation because irresponsible militarism has not yet been driven from the world.

The Treaty of Peace recognizes that Japan has the right to enter into collective self-defense arrangements and the Charter of the United Nations recognizes that all nations possess an inherent right of individual and collective self-defense.

In exercise of these rights, Japan desires, as a provisional arrangement for its defense, that the United States, which is one of the Allied Powers, should maintain armed forces of its own in and about Japan so as to deter armed attack upon Japan.

The United States, in the interest of peace and security, is presently willing to maintain certain of its armed forces in and about Japan, in the expectation, however, that Japan will itself increasingly assume responsibility for its own defense against direct and indirect aggression, always avoiding any armament which could be an offensive threat or serve other than to promote peace and security in accordance with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter.

Accordingly:

1. Japan grants, and the United States accepts the right, upon the coming into force of the Treaty of Peace and of this Treaty, to station United States land, air and sea forces in and about Japan. Such disposition would be designed to contribute to the security of Japan against armed attack from without, including assistance given at the express request of the Japanese Government to put down large-scale internal riots and disturbances in Japan, caused through instigation or intervention by an outside Power or Powers.

2. During the exercise of the right referred to in Article 1, Japan will not grant, without the prior consent of the United States, any bases or any rights, powers or authority whatsoever, in or relating to bases or the right of garrison or of maneuver, to any third power.

3. The conditions which shall govern the stationing of armed forces of the United States in and about Japan shall be determined by administrative agreements between the two Governments.

4. This Treaty shall expire whenever in the opinion of the Governments of the United States and of Japan there shall have come into force such United Nations arrangements or such alternative individual or collective security dispositions as will satisfactorily provide for the maintenance by the United Nations or otherwise of international peace and security in the Japan area.

5. The present Treaty shall be ratified by the United States and Japan and will come into force when instruments of ratification have been deposited by them with the Government of the United States.