Neutralism vs. Security

...Judging from experiences elsewhere, human rights would soon be abrogated, freedom of speech would be endangered, the living standard would decline, scientific and technical capabilities would be exploited and the welfare of the working population would be impaired...

...The Communist Chinese are encountering difficulties in industrializing their country and see Japan as a potential source of scientific and technical know-how...

...It is the elements that remain unaware of the realities facing Japan in 1960 that have been vocal on behalf of neutrality...

...The USSR is suffering from a shortage of skilled labor while Japan has an abundance of manpower...

...military bases in Japan and other foreign countries because it understands their strategic value...

...This is particularly likely because morally and psychologically the Japanese people do not appear strong enough to resist Communist demands...

...Kijuro Shidehara, insisted on insertion of this clause and that General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces, gave direct support to it...

...They have made the return of certain former Japanese islands, including Habomai and Shikotan, contingent upon repudiation of the Security Pact, and have repeatedly claimed that truly normal diplomatic relations can only follow a complete U.S...

...To arrest this tide, new and strong American leadership, both political and moral, is needed...

...Intellectuals, having little experience in international relations and being very much under the influence of Japan’s wartime experiences, were quick to disregard the fact that effective neutralism is likely to be the result of national strength and vitality, not of total weakness...

...It follows that the USSR and Communist China would demand a great deal from a neutralist Japan, with the result that Japan would soon be dragged into the Communist camp by a mixture of threat and blandishment...

...This latter group consists of those belonging to the General Council of Japanese Trade Unions (Sohyo), to the National Federation of Student Self-Government Associations (Zengakuren) and to other Leftist groups united in the National Council Against the U.S.-Japanese Security Treaty...

...The USSR has some 3.5 million men in uniform out of a population of 200 million, a ratio of 1-60...

...The above, of course, should not be confused with Communists and fellow travelers...

...Japan’s basic situation is entirely different from that of countries like Finland, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland and India not only in strategic, but also in economic and psychological, terms...

...The riots during May and June, unlike those which preceded them in Korea and Turkey, were not aimed at securing more freedom...

...Communist China today has an Army of some five million and a population of 600 million, a ratio of 1-120...

...These must ultimately come from within Japan itself: They must be the accomplishment of all the Japanese people, united in the determination to see their own role in international affairs soberly and realistically, and dedicated to the attainment of their own well-being and freedom...

...Japan’s economic capabilities are also extremely attractive to the Communist world...

...Some, hardly realizing that Finland’s neutrality was imposed by the Soviet Union, went so far as to cite that country’s position as a goal for Japan...

...The relative insecurity of democratic institutions and practices is further aggravated by the naivete of many Japanese...

...Another factor which must be considered in analyzing the movement for a neutralist Japan is the degree to which the Japanese people understand the meaning of democracy...

...Security By Kiyoshi Nasu The Tokyo riots last May and June symbolize the continuing struggle between those who wish to keep Japan a part of the free world and those who hope to neutralize Japan by terminating the U.S.-Japanese Security Pact...

...Although it occupies only one third of the Diet seats, it did not hesitate to proclaim that it would prevent passage of the Security Pact by any and every means—hardly proper behavior for a party that really believes in the democratic process...

...It is said that the then Prime Minister...

...In the final analysis, the fact is, of course, not that the Soviet Union or Communist China is genuinely apprehensive about the U.S.-Japanese Security Pact...

...But even more vital is the development of political awareness in Japan itself...

...Indeed, the pro-neutralists would do better to consider the situation of Hungary during the 1956 Revolt, and of Yugoslavia after its expulsion from the Cominform in 1948...

...Hence, Japanese opposition to Communism is somewhat theoretical and superficial and many respond to appeals for neutralism without giving much thought to whom the sponsors are, or to the practical consequences of such a policy...

...It is hardly conceivable that the Russians and Communist Chinese would permit such a small military force in a satellite Japan...

...Then, when the Kishi Administration began to negotiate for revision of the Pact in fall 1958, the Socialists abruptly began agitating for abrogation...

...Consequently, only by building up its military strength to the point where it can discourage Communist subversion will Japan be able to maintain its national integrity and independence...

...Japan adopted a new Constitution in which it renounced war as a means of national policy...

...Moreover, it can hardly be said that the Japanese Socialist party is democratic by accepted Western standards...

...Japanese military forces today number some 230.000 men out of a population of 90 million, a ratio of 1-400...

...Four hundred years of isolation during the Tokugawa period have left their mark, despite everything that has happened since...

...Thus, while Japanese neutralism would, in reality, be a Sino-Soviet strategic victory, Finnish neutralism is no more than an obvious Soviet convenience...

...And so long as this is true, Japan will be a free world danger spot not only because of the presence and pressure of Communists, but because of the latent appeal of totalitarian techniques generally...

...On the other hand, far-fetched and irrelevant as the comparison may be, if Finland were to become a Soviet satellite, the USSR would have little to gain and much to lose because such a development would almost certainly drive Sweden into NATO membership and strengthen the resolve of all the other European states...

...This explains Soviet support for Japanese neutralism, which would necessitate a United States withdrawal to its smaller island bases in the Pacific, and would probably exacerbate U.S.-Philippine relations—making the Western and Central Pacific a new arena of cold war strife...

...True, being out of power for a decade and having no immediate prospect of changing this situation has led the Socialists to adopt policies that are not only visionary but irresponsible, especially in the field of foreign affairs...

...If there is no immediate prospect that they will emerge victorious, it is true nevertheless that the Soviet Union and other Communist forces have been making substantial headway...

...Both have alternated temptations with threats and have felt free to disregard established principles of international conduct by interfering in Japanese domestic affairs...

...Worse still, from the viewpoint of Japan’s idealists, the country would become more and not less militarized as a member of the Communist bloc...

...The Soviet Union has consistently condemned U.S...

...Interestingly, of the Japanese who have been actively engaged in the conduct of international relations and in the study of international politics, few oppose a collective security system with the United States...

...But this only partially explains the party’s course, as is apparent from its attitude toward the new Security Pact...

...Nor is it reassuring to note, on the other hand, the absurd parliamentary tactics of the Kishi Administration in forcing ratification of the new U.S.-Japanese Security Pact on May 20, only 20 minutes after a resolution had been adopted extending the Diet’s term by 50 days...

...In part, this may be the result of the defeat suffered in World War IT, failures in the educational system and the collapse of the prewar family system...

...military withdrawal from Japan...

...Certainly, the great majority are non- or anti-Communist, but they have not had any direct experience with Communism comparable, say, to that of the Koreans...

...These slogans have made an impression on many who remember defeat in war and have strong feelings against anything military...

...Among those who endorse Japan’s present commitments to the free world, including the U.S.-Japanese Security Pact, are Government officials, the ruling Liberal Democratic party and business and industrial circles...

...The great majority of Japanese have been too apathetic and too ill-informed for too long a time...

...Most of the people who would only neutralize Japan—various members of the teaching profession, students and trade unionists—think that if Japan were demilitarized it would escape any involvement in a third world war...

...Worse still, Socialist leaders not only refused to attend the Diet discussions of the Pact, but they also tried to prevent the opening of the plenary session by locking the Speaker of the House of Representatives in his office...

...By no stretch of the imagination could this position be based on an accurate understanding of the prevailing international situation...

...to gain an understanding of the meaninglessness of neutralism in the modern world...

...Hence, the Kishi Administration must certainly share the blame for the ensuing violence...

...Japan is economically and strategically valuable to the Communist camp and Japanese confusion about the realities of the world situation has wisely been used to sow further mistrust and fear—with the ultimate objective of drawing Japan into the Sino-Soviet orbit...

...They can no longer afford to remain passive observers of events which are shaping their own destinies, nor can they permit small but well-organized and highly vocal minorities to project an unrepresentative and false image of Japan on a world-wide basis...

...A look at the record of the Socialist party, the second largest party in the country and a staunch advocate of neutralism, provides a striking example of the effects of Japan’s political naivete...

...Since there were clearly many doubts and suspicions regarding the Security Pact, both among members of the Socialist party and the public at large, there was ample reason for the Diet to debate the matter thoroughly...

...The Pact is a military treaty, therefore we oppose it...

...Surely, without realizing it, the Socialist party is playing into the hands of Moscow and Peking...

...to defend Japan...

...Indeed, the Japanese rioters abused the abundant liberty accorded by the country’s democratic institutions and demonstrated that they are not as yet sufficiently democratized to use freedom with respect...

...At the same time, they have been launching rockets into the South Pacific over the heads of the Japanese civilian population...

...But, paradoxically, public sentiment in Japan remains strongly opposed to adequate military forces, and patriotic morale is at its lowest ebb in the nation’s modern history...

...Unable to muster the support of the majority of the nation, the pro-Soviets are backing the neutrality campaign for purely tactical reasons...

...No wonder the USSR and Communist China are encouraging Japanese neutralism...

...The Socialist party, together with other Leftist groups, has succeeded in deepening Japanese suspicions and uneasiness over the Pact by using such slogans as: "The Security Pact leads to war...

...It includes those who merely want to neutralize Japan permanently, and those who aim to take Japan into the Communist camp...

...It is against this background that the forces of neutralism are growing in present-day Japan...

...For what it is proposing amounts to a new Locarno Pact between the United States, the Soviet Union, Communist China and Japan—which Japan would have to depend on for its independence and security...

...Thus the real issue was obscured from the very first: neutrality became a charismatic slogan...

...This same Socialist party urged revision of the Security Pact several years ago, insisting that the old Pact recognized the right of the United States to station troops in Japan without obligating the U.S...

...Neither the U.S.-Japanese Security Pact nor the kind of neutralism envisaged for Japan by various Left-wing elements can conceivably bring about genuine stability and independence...

...They also think a neutralist Japan would be able to obtain economic aid from both Soviet Russia and the United States, as is the case with India and the United Arab Republic, and they have been impressed by Soviet achievements in space technology, rocketry and diplomacy...

...In any event, the idea of a demilitarized Japan was widespread and popular at the time, however unrealistic it was soon to become...

...At the end of World War II, the issue of Japanese neutralism hardly existed, because the schism between the Communist East and the democratic West was not yet apparent...

...They feel that Japan cannot defend itself unaided and that, under present international conditions, it is meaningless to maintain a policy of neutrality...

...The Pact should not be revised, because it needlessly irritates the Russians and the Chinese...

...Perhaps, too, the economic power of Japan, however attractive to the Russians and Communist Chinese, is not strong enough to sustain a modern arsenal necessary today for the country’s defense...

...Nevertheless, they would seem in the long run unavoidable in view of Japan’s unique strategic and economic value to the Communists...

...They may, in general, be characterized either as idealists or naive amateurs in international politics, and their number is probably on the increase...

...Such dire things are, of course, unlikely to occur immediately after Japanese adoption of a neutralist policy...

...By forcing passage of the Pact, despite the 50-day extension of the Diet session, the Government made many people feel that they had been duped...

...Regrettable as it may be, all of this serves as a reminder that the advent of democracy in Japan is recent and that it has not yet found complete acceptance or understanding among all elements of the population...

...Yet, while the Government has not done as much as it might or should have to explain the necessity for the new Security Pact to the public, what responsible and patriotic Japanese—and this includes Socialists—has taken the time to examine the implications of the Socialist "alternative...