Evening star., 1952-03-22
Turning Point in Japan

In ratifying the Japanese peace treaty by
the overwhelming vote of 66 to TO- the Senate
has made clear to the particularly to the
Kremlin-that on basic issues of foreign policy,
even in this superheated election year, a near
unanimous spirit of bipartisanship still prevails
in the United States. The same Interpretation
holds true for the sweeping approval accorded
the three related security pacts with Japan.
with the Philippines and with Australia and New
zealand) aimed at bulwarking the Pacific area
against the threat of Red aggression.
AS result of the Senates resounding action,
only few additional steps remain to be taken
before the peace treaty becomes fully effective.
AS soon as the President signs the document.
and with ratification by just one more of the
48 countries that agreed upon the settlement
at San Francisco last year, the japanese people
will once again be their own masters. AS such,
they will no longer be under the authority Of
our American-run occupation. Instead, with the
war formally ended and their enemy status
erased, they will be sovereign In their home
islands, eligible for admission into the United
Nations, and free to develop into self-sup-
porting and defensively strong democracy
pledged to cooperate with like-minded lands in
promoting military security, political stability
and economic progress both for themselves and
for free Asia as whole.
Inspired in large part by General Macarthur
and negotiated chiefly by John Foster Dulles,
this peace of reconciliation" has rightly been
described as the most magnanimous settlement
of its kind in modern times Economically and
otherwise, however, the Japanese as they pre-
pare to put it to work now at great new
turning point in their history, face many difficult
problems. With their prewar overseas empire
a thing of the past, and with their sharply in
creased population crowded into the home
islands, they will have to undertake heroic labors
to build up their defensive strength and support
themselves in decency and freedom. This cannot
be done in hurry. Clearly, for considerable
time to come, their country, standing by itself,
will be vacuum of power-a vacuum coveted
by the Soviet Union which has bitterly refused,
along with its small bloc of satellites, to join
in the San Francisco treaty.
In effect, this refusal means that technical
state of war still exists between Russia and
japan. Some observers feel that the situation
may embarrass the men Of the Kremlin into
working out a satisfactory separate peace lest
they lose propaganda battle and be denied
the right of maintaining representatives In
Tokyo. On the other hand, as General Ridgway
has just warned, 1t is wholly possible that the
Soviet dictatorship, which has great military
power nearby. may be getting ready for aggres-
sion against the japanese This very real threat,
OF course, is Wkl0J dCCUuIItS OuA 0PCSA0A
eral pact with the latter-a pact under which
American armed forces will be stationed over
there for an indefinite period after the occupa-
tion ends, the purpose being to safeguard the
country until it has defenses OF its own and
can join IN additional collective-security ar
rangements through the U. N. or other interna-
tional groupings.
Stated another way, the bilateral pact Is
designed to guarantee, with the backing Of
American power, that the japanese will be able
to make the most of the opportunities offered
them by the peace treaty itself. Beyond that,
linked with our Philippine and Australian-New
Zealand pacts-which serve incidentally as q
check on the possibility of resurgent militarism
in Tokyo-the special arrangements with Japan
form pattern OF mutual defense covering q
vast Pacific area strategically vital to u.s. That
is why the Senates ratification action has been
virtually unanimous. The men Of the Kremlin
would do well to note 1t with care. In Its own
way, y = ! warnini ilasainst further aggression.