U.S.-JAPANESE TALKS

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27751, 31 August 1955, Page 13

U.S.-JAPANESE TALKS

Assurance On Soviet Relations (Rec. 9 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Aug. 29. The Japanese Foreign Minister, Mr Mamoru Shigemitsu, was reported to have assured the United States Secretary of State, Mr John Foster Dulles, today that in its dealings with the Soviets, Japan would make no commitments damaging to its relations with the United States. Officials in close touch with the talks, which opened in the State Department today, said the two Ministers had ranged over such subjects as Japan’s defence policies, her negotiations with the Soviet Union for a peace treaty and diplomati A relations, trade problems, and Japan’s desire for the return of islands now occupied by the United States. There has been some apprehension in Washington that the Japanese Government, in its anxiety to “normalise” relations with the Soviets, might go too far in making concessions.

On the Japanese war criminals issue, Mr Shigemitsu, who himself was imprisoned for four and a half years by the United States authorities, has made no secret of the fact that he would press for the release of the Japanese still in gaol, 10 years after the war. There are 577 Japanese convicted of war crimes in the Sugamo prison. Of these, 210 are under United States jurisdiction, with the remainder under the jurisdiction of Britain, Australia, and the Netherlands. The Foreign Minister has brought with him a tentative plan of Japanese plans for expansion of land, sea. and air forces over the next six years, which would be co-crdinated with a staged withdrawal of United States forces now in Japan. This blueprint has not yet received approval by Parliament or the Japanese Finance Ministry. Japanese sources said it represented the thinking of the defence planners and would provide the basis for an exchange of views in Washington. Mr Shigemitsu was to go into detailed discussions on defence problems tomorrow when he sees the chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Arthur Radford, and the Under-Secretary of Defence, Mr Reuben Robertson.