PEACE TREATY WITH JAPAN

The Department of External Affairs was recently furnished with a
copy of signal Z.69 dated 5th September [1], from the Commander-
in-Chief B.C.O.F. concerning a Peace Treaty with Japan. The
attention of the Department of External Affairs was also drawn to
cablegram 22 dated 26th August, from the Government of South
Africa dealing with this subject (copy sent to Chiefs of Staff on
31st August), and the Department was asked for any information
which might be in its possession concerning the possibility of a
Peace Treaty. The following reply has now been received from the
Department of External Affairs.

'Your memorandum refers to a telegram 26th August from the
Government of South Africa, which suggested there had been
correspondence with the United Kingdom Government on the subject
of the Japanese Peace Treaty. There has been no similar exchange
of correspondence between the United Kingdom and Australian
Government, but there has been a verbal exchange along the same
lines between the Deputy High Commissioner for the United Kingdom
in Canberra and this Department. On 12th August Mr. Price informed
me (for my "Top Secret" information) that the United Kingdom
Government had been approached informally and orally by the United
States Embassy in London and asked what would be the thought of
British Commonwealth countries on the following two points in
relation to any Peace Treaty with Japan:

(i) The making of U.S.-Japanese security arrangements as part of a
"non-punitive Peace Treaty providing for non-excessive post-Treaty
controls".

(ii) A withdrawal from the line agreed upon by British
Commonwealth countries at the Canberra Conference in 1947, viz.,
that Peace Conference decisions on matters of substance should be
taken by a two-thirds majority.

Mr. Price stressed that the approach had been made quite
informally and at the official level, and that so far as he knew
nothing had as yet been put to any Ministers in the United
Kingdom. Both the above propositions were obviously vague. The
first presumably envisaged some sort of arrangement whereby the
United States might continue to take some part in the defence of
Japan. The second was even more vague, and it was not clear what
the Americans had in mind, except that a possible change in the
British Commonwealth outlook might be made in the interests of
persuading the Soviet Union to join a Peace Conference.

Mr. Price was informed that we did not feel disposed to make any
comment, particularly in view of the vagueness of the proposals,
and that we would expect that if the United States Government had
any firm proposals it would communicate them to us direct. There
would have to be consultations among British Commonwealth
countries before there could be any departure from the Canberra
Agreement. Mr. Price was further informed that we did not believe
that the United States really wanted a Japanese Peace Treaty at
present.

It was subsequently learned that the United States Embassy in
London had gone rather beyond its instructions in the matter. All
that the Embassy had been instructed to do was to inform the
Foreign Office of the way the State Department was thinking about
Japan, particularly in regard to minimum U.S. strategic
requirements in that area in the future. There was no intention
that the Foreign Office should be asked to canvass the opinion of
the British Commonwealth countries.

As you are aware, there has recently been an exchange of views in
Washington between Mr. Bevin and Mr. Dean Acheson on the subject,
inter alia, of the future of Japan. No comprehensive account of
these talks has yet been received, but it appears that the United
States Government has still not made up its mind whether to aim at
a Peace Treaty with Japan in the near future, and if so, under
what conditions a Peace Conference should be convened. It is
recognised that the views quoted in the signal from the Commander-
in-Chief, British Commonwealth Occupation Force, reflect the
thinking of a large part of SCAP Headquarters and of sections of
the United States Government. In the view of this Department,
however, they should not necessarily be regarded as conclusive
evidence of present or future United States policy in the matter.

You will be kept informed of any further developments.' [2]