My comment: I guess this news come at the right time to make clear to the extremely anti-nuke Japanese public that the military cooperation treaty must be renegotiated. And to reinforce, even more, PM Hatoyama position on this topic versus oposition party.
Obviously only people in Japan and USA believed their authorites, therefore to slide this "secret" is not addressed to foreign countries such as China but to Japanse audience. Peace and best wishes. Xi 'I saw' nuke pact minutes: ex-vice minister http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20091123a3.html A former vice foreign minister recently said he has seen documents from 1960 that confirm a secret Japan-U.S. pact under which Tokyo allows U.S. military ships and aircraft carrying nuclear weapons to transit Japan. "I saw them. I have memories that we looked into them after something happened," the former top ministry official said on condition of anonymity. The official, who served in key ministry posts in the 1980s and 1990s, said he can't remember the circumstances under which he read the Jan. 6, 1960, minutes. The comment comes amid news that the Foreign Ministry, which has conducted a probe into four purported secret pacts, has decided to confirm the existence of the nuclear arms pact. "The probe is now in the final stage, and we will announce the outcome in January," Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Saturday, although he declined to reveal any details. A third-party committee consisting of experts will be set up this week and will analyze the probe findings, according to the ministry. There is unconfirmed information that documents pertaining to the pact were discarded around the time a law on the disclosure of administrative information was enforced in April 2001. Declassified U.S. documents say the minutes in question are kept by the U.S. government side. Previous governments led by the Liberal Democratic Party consistently denied the existence of the nuclear pact, but the new Democratic Party of Japan-led administration plans to officially change that stance. The minutes mentioned by the former Foreign Ministry official, signed by Foreign Minister Aiichiro Fujiyama and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Douglas MacArthur II, have not been found in the Foreign Ministry's probe, according to a source close to the ministry. The probe into the alleged nuclear pact and other secret agreements with the United States was ordered in September by Okada days after Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's government took office. The United States is required to consult with Tokyo before bringing nuclear weapons into Japan under the 1960 bilateral security treaty. No record of such consultations has ever surfaced. On 22 nov, 16:04, xi <[email protected]> wrote: > http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/22/content_12520430.htm > > TOKYO, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Foreign Ministry will admit that a > secret pact between Japan and the United States, which allows nuclear- > laden U.S. military vessels and aircraft to stopover in Japanese > territory, does exist according to a statement made by the ministry on > Saturday. > > Following increasing allegations and mounting evidence that such a > pact was in existence, Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka set up a > task force in September to conduct a "full and comprehensive" > investigation into the allegations. > > The task force now headed by Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and > consisting of around fifteen ministry officials, has looked into some > 3,200 in-house documents and 3,700 documents from the Japanese Embassy > in Washington since Sept. 25. During Okada's in-house probe, documents > have been found that corroborate the existence of the secret nuclear > agreement, according to sources close to the matter. > > Coupled with this finding, a former vice foreign minister recently > came forward attesting to the Japan-U.S. clandestine understanding, > saying that he was privy to the minutes of the meeting in which the > secret pact was made in 1960. > > "I saw them. I remember we looked into them after something > happened," the former top official, who served in key Foreign Ministry > posts in the 1980s and 1990s, said on condition of anonymity. > > The ex-official added he does not remember the exact incident that > led him to view the minutes. > > The minutes in question are currently being kept by the U.S. > government, according to declassified U.S. documents. > > ''The probe is now in the final stage, and we will announce the > outcome in January,'' Okada said Saturday, in a brief statement devoid > of any details and negating Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka's > pledge to issue a detailed report on his findings in November. > > OUSTED LDP IN "CYCLE OF DENIAL" > > Under the 1960 bilateral security treaty between the two nations, > Washington is required to consult with Tokyo before any nuclear > weapons are brought into Japan, however Japan's Foreign Ministry has > now indicated that its recent probe into the documents has revealed > that stopovers of U.S. military vessels or aircraft with nuclear > weapons are not subject to prior consultation. > > According to former Japanese ministers and top bureaucrats at the > Foreign Ministry involved with handling the deal, in revising the > Japan-U.S. Security Treaty in 1960 the two allies also made a secret > agreement under which Tokyo would give tacit approval to Washington on > the stopover of U.S. military aircraft or vessels carrying nuclear > weapons in Japanese territory. > > Thus, Washington construed that any prior consultation with Tokyo > would only need to be made in the case of the deployment of nuclear > weapons on land or in the air and that stopovers of aircraft and > vessels with such weapons were not bound by prior consultation. > > According to former top ministry officials of the administration > of then Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, who inked the revised security > pact, the Prime Minister accepted the U.S. interpretation of the new > deal. > > Hence it's could be deemed reasonable to assume that in light of > the loophole in the 1960 treaty and amid mounting testimony from > former high-level Japanese ministers, that such stopovers could have > frequently been made by U.S. military vessels, with nuclear payloads, > over the past half-century. > > Although the secret deal itself has already become known to the > public by declassification of U.S. diplomatic documents in the late > 1990s, the former Japanese government led by the Liberal Democratic > Party (LDP), has consistently denied the existence of such a secret > deal between the two countries, saying, "As we have never faced > demands for prior consultations, we have no other choice than > determining that nuclear (weapons) have not been brought into Japan." > > Suffice to say if Washington has been acting under the assumption > that stopovers were exempt from needing prior clearance, then it's of > no wonder the ruling LDP government(s) at the time claimed that > nuclear weapons were not being brought into Japanese territory by U.S. > military vessels -- but the facts, including recent testimony, suggest > Japan's previous administrations have, for a long time, known > otherwise. > > Four former top Japanese ministry officials who have all served as > vice foreign minister (the most senior bureaucratic post at the > ministry) have all recently acknowledged that a secret pact has been > in existence for decades, although perhaps the most compelling > testimony comes from a former Foreign Ministry administrative vice > minister, Ryohei Murata in a well-publicized interview with a Japanese > national newspaper. > > Ryohei Murata, a former Foreign Ministry administrative vice > minister, told the Mainichi newspaper that Japanese and U.S. > governments have had a secret accord whereby Japan would tacitly > approve port calls and passage through Japanese territorial waters by > U.S. warships carrying nuclear weapons. > > Murata, who served in the position from July 1987 to August 1989, > said the accord was reached in 1960, when the two countries renewed > the bilateral security treaty. > > Murata's testimony, that flies in the face of repeated LDP > refutation of the matter, marks the first time a former administrative > vice foreign minister has gone on record as saying such a deal has > existed. > > "My predecessor told me to convey the contents of the secret > accord to the minister, in my capacity as the administrative vice > minister." > > Murata said that he did discuss the contents of the pact with the > foreign minister at the time. > > TREADING ON EGGSHELLS > > Following the Foreign Ministry's admission Saturday, the ruling > Democratic Party of Japan now has the delicate task of dealing with > the Japanese public who, for decades, were led to believe, through > such acts as the LDP's continued "cycle of denial," that their > country's three non-nuclear principles were being upheld by their > government. > > From the time of the decimation of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki > prefectures at the end of WWII, to the present day, Japanese public > sentiment has become increasingly opposed to the presence of nuclear > weapons on Japanese soil, in its waters and its skies and indeed the > Japanese people are, generally speaking, staunch supporters of nuclear > non-proliferation globally. > > The three principles of not possessing, manufacturing or > permitting nuclear weapons into Japanese territory, were first > outlined by Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in a speech to the House of > Representatives in 1967, amid negotiations over the return of Okinawa > from the U.S. The Diet formally adopted the principles in 1971. > > Since then every prime minister of Japan has publicly reaffirmed > the "Three Non-Nuclear Principles" as outlined by Sato and now Prime > Minister Yukio Hatoyama and the ruling DPJ must tread a very thin line > between holding former administrations accountable for deceiving > generations of anti-nuclear citizens and not further straining ties > with an already testy Washington. > > If the DPJ fail to address and amend the 1960 security treaty > between Japan and the U.S. in an open and transparent manner, then the > newly-elected party who has vowed to chart a more "politically > independent" course that is less reliant on military and economic ties > with the U.S., will be seen as toothless -- as has been the case with > previous LDP administrations, whose leaders have been caricatured as > Washington's puppets in the political columns of respected > broadsheets. > > Analysts have commented that Washington is having a tough time > adjusting to Japan's new political ideologies after half a century of > almost unbroken LDP rule, which put the Japan-U.S. alliance at the > core of its diplomacy. > > Further adding to the strain on the DPJ's embryonic relationship > with Washington and despite President Obama's recent goodwill visit to > Japan, during which he reaffirmed the importance of the U.S.-Japan > alliance, is the DPJ's re-examination of the 2006 U.S.-Japan Roadmap > for Realignment and Implementation. > > This plan outlines a wholesale strategic repositioning of U.S. > forces in Okinawa. The Japanese government are seeking to relocate a > key air facility outside of Okinawa, or even outside Japan to lessen > base-hosting burdens on the local population -- a proposal cited by > U.S. officials as potentially "testing ties with Japan's new > government." > > Added to this the fact that Japan's Defense Minister Toshimi > Kitazawa has recently stated his intentions to terminate the Japanese > Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling missions in the Indian Ocean, > in support of U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around > Afghanistan, and will pull out its two naval ships when their current > mandate expires in January, and the potential for increased diplomatic > tension in the near future between Japan and the U.S. is more than > tenable, according to analysts. > > The U.S. is adamant that its role as a nuclear deterrent in the > Asia-Pacific region is paramount to its own national security and > those of the region it purports to protect and thus has called for > bilateral security relations between the two nations to not be damaged > or compromised in any way. > > In October, the U.S. Secretary of Defense and Pentagon's top- > official Robert Gates resolutely warned Japan during a visit to Tokyo > that it should not let its ongoing probe into an alleged secret Japan- > U.S. nuclear pact, damage bilateral relations or undermine the U.S. > nuclear deterrence in the area. > > The U.S. defense ministry has stated that the secret pact issue is > Japan's "domestic matter," however if the DPJ's recent maneuvers away > from U.S. military mandates are anything to go by, it would be > reasonable to surmise that the secret pact issue, far from being a > simple domestic matter, may call for the U.S. to respond to resolute > diplomatic action from the DPJ, itself now under immense public > scrutiny and pressure to ratify Japan's original commitment to it's > three non-nuclear principles, as outlined in 1967 -- a commitment that > has united a nation and inspired a myriad of denuclearization > initiatives across the globe. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "World-thread" group. 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