49. Memorandum of a Conversation Between Secretary of State Dulles and Foreign Minister Shigemitsu, National Airport, Washington, September 1, 1955, 8:45 a.m.1
Mr. Shigemitsu expressed most warmly his appreciation for his treatment here and felt that the talks had been of inestimable value.
He asked whether or not we were giving thought to a possible Far Eastern conference. I said no, that one obstacle was the anti-Japanese attitude of Syngman Rhee. Shigemitsu said that Rhee was very difficult to deal with; that they had tried to be conciliatory but without any result.
I said that if ever the Japanese Government felt that a Far Eastern conference would be useful, I hoped that they would feel free to make the suggestion to us.
Mr. Shigemitsu said that if ever anything happened in Japan that we did not like, please to let him know through Ambassador Allison.
Mr. Shigemitsu said that he thought that sooner or later it would be necessary to recognize the fact of the Communist regime on the mainland, but that he hoped that we would not ever let the Communists get hold of Formosa. He said that that would have a very bad effect on the Philippines and, in that way, upon the whole Western Pacific situation.
I reaffirmed to Mr. Shigemitsu what I had said the night before at the dinner when speaking with Kono and Kishi that basic United States policy was to have Japan develop again into a great power; that we wanted the relationship to be one where the United States was backing Japan in the Western Pacific and not a relationship where we were wanting Japan to back us.2 We were not an Asian country and had no ambitions to become one.3
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 033.9411/9–155. Secret. Drafted by Dulles. The conversation took place before Shigemitsu’s departure.↩
- A memorandum by Bernau of a telephone conversation between
Dulles and Senator George, held later that morning,
reads in entirety as follows:
“The Sec. said last night the Japanese said they were quite satisfied that as long as he was SecState, there would be very good relations between the countries. The Sec. suggested G. assure them that present policies are not personal to the Sec. but are basic US policies—it would be helpful.” (Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, General Telephone Conversations)
↩ - In a letter to the President, also dated September
1, Dulles commented as follows on the Japanese
talks:
“The Japanese conference has gone really well. I gave them some straight talk which was, I believe, wholesome. The fact that Kono and Kishi were also present was good, because they represent much political power. The important thing for us is to get the right-wing parties to consolidate and not tear each other apart and seek popularity by joining in the ‘American go home’ theme. I believe our talks impressed them with the need to consolidate on a platform of cooperation with the United States. I hope the impression will survive long enough for it to produce some political results. (Ibid., Whitman File, Dulles–Herter Series)
↩