JAPAN’S FUTURE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25139, 21 March 1947, Page 7

JAPAN’S FUTURE

MACARTHUR’S SPEECH DISCUSSED WASHINGTON’S POLICY SAID TO DIFFER (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 7.) WASHINGTON, March 19. Informed sources reveal that General MacArthur’s statement calling for an early peace treaty with Japan took both the War Department and the State Department by surprise. The official War Department view has been that the occupation of Japan must continue indefinitely. General MacArthur consulted neither department before publicly stating his views. In Tokyo to-day the Prime Minister (Mr Yoshida) said that if the United States was going to ensure world peace the Americans must remain indefinitely in Japan after the Japanese peace treaty was signed. Mr Yoshida strongly approved General MacArthur’s proposal for treaty negotiations and an end of the occupation, but made it plain that he preferred American protection to that of the United Nations. ‘‘We are having our battles with the Communists, too, and we have a very dangerous enemy to the north,” he said. The United States representative, Mr George Atcheson, told the Allied Council in Tokyo that American businessmen would be ready to invest in Japanese enterprises and assist in mutually beneficial ways of developing the Japanese economy and international trade if they were assured that Japan would be stable, that inflation would be controlled, and that labour relations would be good. Mr Atcheson urged the Allies to inform Japan as soon as possible what industrial plants she would be permitted to retail. They would thereby help the Japanese to produce goods for’ export to pay for food imports. Mr Atcbeson added that American businessmen were not seeking large profits, but preferred to develop sound business in Japan. Senator Owen Brewster (Republican, Maine) says he has learned that General MacArthur will be given broader jurisdiction in the Orient and will have a hand in American policy in China. \ Senator Brewster added: “It has been intimated that something will develop shortly most pleasing to those of us who advocate a different viewpoint in the Orient.”

Senator Brewster declared that there should be a firmer hand supporting Marshal Chiang’s Government.