Evening star., 1953-11-23
Reormoment and japan

Vice President Nixon has stated the case
mildly in declaring to the Japan America
Society in Tokyo that "the United States made
a mistake In 1916" when it brought about the
destruction of what was left of Japanese mill
tary strength after Hiroshima Nagasaki and
VI day.
Surprisingly enough, the mistake was put
into effect with what appears to have been the
unqualified support of General Macarthur,
who was then the most dominant figure in
Japan as Supreme Commander for the Allied
Powers. In that capacity, in keeping with high
policy worked out here in Washington, he
played leading part in persuading the Jap
anese to adopt new constitution under which
they forever" renounced the right to maintain
an armed establishment.
This renunciation was unique in the history
of the world. AS no advanced nation had ever
done before, the acknowledgement Land Of the
Rising Sun committed itself, in basic conStitu-
tional law, never again to have an army, navy
or an air force Instead relying on its neigh
borS not to do evil to it, it gambled on the hope
that there would be lasting peace guarantee
ing safety for all in global system of collective
security. At the time, when the gamble was
made and despite General MacArthur's ap-
proval, the idea struck more than few peo-
pie as absurdly unrealistic, but it was generally
However, not long after the launching of
this experiment, events themselves made it both
obsolete and dangerous. AS Mr.. Nixon has just
said, "We felt disarmament was proper in, 1896
We looked ahead, hoping against hope that it
would be possible to attain a peaceful world"
But everybody learned better in due course.
The Moscow centered Communist threat became
palmer and palmer, and bigger and bigger, and
there could be no doubt that Japan could not
carry on as vacuum of military power without
tempting aggresSors to move in and fill that
vacuum. Accordingly, together with a number
of Japanese leaders, General Macarthur and
other influential Americans began to talk about
the need for substantial measure of rearma-
ment to enable Hirohito's truncated empire to
meet the menace inherent in the Kremlin'S
policies.
With the full backing of Admiral Carney
our Chief of Naval Operations who has just
returned from the Far East. Mr.. Nixon now has
restated that need with special force in his
Tokyo address. Acknowledging that the United
States ''misjudged the intentions of Soviet lead
ers" at the end of the Second World War and
that our country erred in its all-out diSarma-
ment action, he has told the Japanese that we
have rearmed for peace since 1946 and that they
should share the same responsibility with us
and other free nations. In brief, he has ap-
pealed to them to develop adequate defenses of
their own with the least possible delay.
Reports from Tokyo indicate that Mr.. Nix
on's vews-expressed more automatically than
Senator Knowland's recent remarks on the
same subject-have been well received by
Japan's leaders. AS result, despite the anti
military constitutional provsion-which has
been one of the inhibiting factors, politically
and otherwise, against steps designed to build
up the countrys security-there is considerable
hope that Japanese rearmament will hence
forth move forward at better pace in line
with the hard realities of our time.
1t seems obvious, in any event, that the
Japanese must do more on their own for their
own security instead Of depending predomi-
nantly on American power to keep them safe
from aggression. Certainly, without such an
effort on their part, the mistake made in 1946
cannot be rectfied as fully as present-day
dangers demand.