Evening star., 1951-08-17
The San Francisco Outlook

In response to their acceptance of the invi-
tation to take part in next months San Francisco
conference on the Japanese peace treaty, the
United States Government, in a wel-timed
formal note has made clear to the men of the
Kremlin that their participation will in no sense
entitle them to set off lot of disruptive propa-
ganda fireworks. That is to say, it will not
entitle them to resort to maneuvers aimed at
blocking the settlement and reopening negotia-
tions on the terms already agreed upon by the
overwhelming majority of nations still tech
nically at war with Hrohito's shattered empire.
This is something that Andrei Gromyko and
his colleagues in the Soviet delegation had better
bear in mind In the words of our note, there
should be no possibility of misunderstanding
about the purpose of the conference. The nations
that have been invited to that conference have
not been invited to undo or to sabotage the wide
agreement that has been reached on the final
text" of the settlement They have been invited,
rather, to participate in the conclusion and
signature of treaty of peace with Japan on
the terms of that text" Accordingly, If the
Russians try to play the role of wrecking
crew, they will be ruled out of order and dealt
with on that basis. Having been forewarned on
that score, they should stay away unless they
intend to conduct themselves in keeping with
the spirit of the meeting.
In all probability, however, regardless of
this forewarning, Mr.. Gromyko and his group
will do their best to throw the San Francisco
proceedings into an uproar Presumably, with
Red China echoing them from a distance, they
will attack the Japanese treaty as "illegal" and
invalid" as an American-dictated settlement de-
signed to enable "imperialistic ruling circles" in
the United States to unleash aggressive war
against Asia, and in general as something that
hn c0ro nod md
by new instrument of peace worked out at a
Big Four or Big Five conference in which the
representatives of Moscow and Peiping would be
free to veto anything favored by the majority.
In such way, 1t may be assumed, the Soviet
delegation will hope to paralyze the conference
or at least succeed in getting India and as many
other countries as possible to refrain from
signing.
But this objective is not likely to be achieved.
At any rate, as John Foster Dulles declared in
his radio address the other night, there is good
reason to be confident that by the time the
San Francisco conference comes to an end,
80 many Allies, including the principal con-
tributors to victory, will have signed the treaty
that there will be no doubt in any quarter as
to either the fact of peace or as to the terms
of peace" Mr.. Dulles chief OF the Presidents
special mission on. negotiating the settlement.
well founded. It is founded on the reality that
the final text is "the product OF unique CO.
operative effort"-an effort involving eleven
months of give e-and-take negotiations leading to
the final reconciliation, on all basic issues, of
the varying views and interests of literally
dozens of different lands.
Certainly, as Mr. Dulles has said the text
scheduled for signing is anything but dictated
one. Each of the numerous countries co-operat-
ing in drafting it (the American original has
undergone score or more of substantial re-
visions since last March) can claim an important
authorship role, and although nobody is 100
per cent satisfied with it, it represents the COL
lective views and wisdom of virtually every gov
ernment qualified to participate The big
exception, of course, is the Soviet Union, which
up to now has been interested only in blocking
a japanese settlement just as it has blocked
settlements for Germany and Austria. Despite
the Russian boycott, however, the fact remains,
in Mr. Dulles words, that the treaty is the
work of so many nations as to make it "the
most broadly based peace treaty in all history"
That consideration probably will not deter
the Soviet Union from attempting sabotage at
San Francisco, with the end in view of leaving
the treaty up in the air and promoting condi-
tions calculated to reduce Japan to an Asiatic
power vacuum vulnerable to future Red doniina-
ton. Our note, in effect has admonished the
men of the Kremlin not to try that sort of thing
at the impending conference and MIR. Dulles has
flatly predicted that they will fail If they do
try it. All of which remains to be seen, but
the indications are that the vast majority of
the free nations will hold fast together when
the time comes to sign.