63. Editorial Note
In budget negotiations with the Japanese Government, the United States negotiating team, in accordance with instructions (see footnote 4, Document 59), presented a formula which would have set the Japanese defense budget at 163 billion yen. The Japanese Government, however, owing largely to the position of the Finance Ministry, was leaning in mid-December to a total just under $140 billion yen (somewhat lower than the total under Shigemitsu’s informal proposal [Page 144] of November 2), although no official proposal was presented until December 20. On that day, Shigemitsu told the Ambassador that $140 million yen was the total Japan could agree to, emphasizing that while component sums for the defense agency, facilities, and yen contribution were negotiable, the overall figure was not. Documentation is in Department of State, Central File 794.5.
In telegram 1407, December 20, Allison commented as follows: “I am not certain, however, that we could not obtain an increase of between two and three billion yen over this figure without adverse political repercussions, but I am convinced that a figure in the neighborhood of 142–143 billion yen as total defense budget is all we can get without violating Washington’s instructions in Deptel 1034 that ‘US should avoid pressing Japanese increase their military forces to prejudice political and economic stability’.” (Ibid., 794.5/12–2055)