San Francisco Peace Treaty - A Sell-out of Countries Victimized by Japanese Imperial Army

Background Information for the Media Conference on July 12, 2001
by Toronto Association for Learning & Preserving the History of WWII in Asia ( Toronto ALPHA )

On September 8, 1951, forty-eight countries led by the United States of America signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty (SFPT) with Japan. It marked the end of hostilities between Japan and the signatory countries, provided the termination of the occupation of Japan by the Allied Forces (mainly the United States Forces), and specified the details of the settlement of other war-related issues.

The supporters of the SFPT led by the governments of the United States and Japan are planning to have a major commemoration on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the SFPT in September this year.

The Toronto Association for Learning & Preserving the History of World War II in Asia (the Toronto ALPHA) would like to take this opportunity to protest in the strongest terms against such a celebration. We want to express our indignation against the supporters, especially the governments of the United States and Japan, for even considering holding such an event.

The Toronto ALPHA firmly believes that the San Francisco Peace Treaty was a seriously flawed historical document to begin with. The SFPT ignored many of the basic principles in international treaty making and international justice. Respect for human rights has now been widely recognized by people around the world as one of the most fundamental universal principles in this global village of ours. The recent establishment of the International Court of Justice to put war criminals on trial is a testament to the tremendous progress we have made as global citizens in the past fifty years. With this collective understanding and experience, it is unconscionable for the supporters of the SFPT, especially the United States government, to consider, at this time and age, to commemorate the signing of such a shameful document.

As a result of the SFPT, on April 28, 1952, Japan formally regained its sovereignty. The peace treaty was overly generous to Japan. It did not exact heavy reparations nor did it impose any post-treaty supervision over Japan. It allowed the rearmament of Japan, removed all restrictions on Japan's economic affairs, and renounced the right to demand reparations and war indemnities. In exchange, it allowed the continued presence of American forces in Japan, their military alliance, and the retention by the United States of Okinawa and the Bonin Islands. As Harvard Professor Akira Iriye pointed out, it was actually more than a peace treaty. It turned Japan from a conquered and occupied country to a military ally of the United States, frankly aimed at responding to the rising power of the Soviet Union and China in the Asia-Pacific region at the time.

It is one thing to use Japan for the purpose of implementing United States' military strategy in the region. It is quite another to ignore international justice by betraying the victim countries. In the SFPT process, the interests of the people and the countries brutally victimized by the Japanese Imperial Army were mostly ignored. Despite the protests by Asian countries most affected by the Japanese aggression, the treaty process excluded the participation of China (both mainland and Taiwan), and Korea (both North and South). India and Burma refused to participate. Three signatories from Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos) were actually representatives of the French colonial regime. Only four Asian countries signed the treaty. Of these four, Indonesia signed the treaty but never ratified it. The Philippines reserved its signatures and did not ratify the treaty after it had gone into effect. So, in fact, the only Asian countries that supported the SFPT were Pakistan and Ceylon, both recent colonies of Britain up till that time.

The document is therefore a sell-out of most of the countries in Asia, which were brutally victimized by the Japanese Imperial Army before and during World War II.

The Toronto ALPHA would also like to take this opportunity to express our concerns on the following related current events.

In a recent edition of the Globe and Mail, an editorial ("Japan's Non-Army", May 15, 2001) supports a move by Japan's new Prime Minister to amend the Japan Peace Constitution. The paper cited Japan's legitimate defence concerns as a reason to support such a position. This is in spite of the following facts cited in the same editorial. Nearly three-quarters of the Japanese public oppose amending the Japanese constitution banning Japan from fielding a full-fledged army. Japan already has one of the biggest armed forces in the world and a thoroughly modern war machine. And, after nearly 60 years, Japan has yet to confront its wartime record.

During its invasion of China, Korea, The Philippines, and other countries in Asia from 1931 to 1945, the Japanese Imperial Army committed numerous atrocities and war crimes against the people of these countries. In the well-documented Rape of Nanjing incident alone, the Japanese army massacred over 300,000 innocent victims in a short period of six weeks. Over 200,000 Korean, Chinese, Filipino and other Asian women were drafted and forced to be "Comfort Women" to serve the Japanese soldiers as sex slaves. The notorious Unit 731 of the Japanese Army routinely conducted biological warfare experiments involving live humans. Examples of these and many other brutal war crimes committed by the Japanese Imperial Army before and during World War II are widely known to people in Asian countries and, to a lesser extent, in the West, but have scarcely been reported in Japan.

While Germany has repeatedly apologized for her wartime conduct and paid reparation to the victims, Japan has yet to clearly apologize and make meaningful compensation to the people of Asia for the war crimes committed against them. While many German political figures have kneeled before memorials commemorating the victims of Nazi Germany to express their remorse, many Japanese politicians publicly paid their respect at a shrine honouring the Japanese war criminals.

Recently, the Japanese Education Ministry approved a revised edition of history textbooks to be published in 2002 for use in junior high schools in Japan. The revised textbook either glosses over or completely omits mentioning the Japanese wartime record. Despite the outcries of many of its educators, its Asian neighbours and the world community over the textbook incident, the Japanese government refused to reconsider their decision.

Some extreme right wing groups in Japan were reported to state that the Japanese invasion of the East Asian countries and the annexation of Korea were justified as the Greater East Asia War to liberate Asian nations from western colonization. To answer this blatant attempt at distorting history, we would like to quote the late Rev. John Magee of American Church Mission who witnessed the Nanjing Massacre:

"Every day we call at the Japanese Embassy and present our protests, our appeals, our lists of authenticated reports of violence and crime. … The victorious army must have its rewards to plunder, to murder, to rape at will, to commit acts of unbelievable brutality and savagery on the very people they have come to protect and befriend, as they have so loudly proclaimed to the world. In all modern history surely there is no page that will stand so black as that of the Rape of Nanjing." (December 25, 1937)

Former President Richard von Weizasecker of Germany, in a speech that marked the fortieth anniversary of World War II, stated: "Whoever refuses to remember the inhumanity is prone to new risks of infection." He further stated that: "All of us, whether guilty or not, whether old or young, must accept the past. We are all affected by the consequences and liable for it. The young and old generations must and can help each other to understand why it is vital to keep alive the memories."

The Toronto ALPHA believes that the Japanese people, especially the young people, have the right to learn about the historical truth in Asia Pacific during the WW II. The people in the world have the right to question the motivation and to express our concern and outrage against the distortion of history. In order to prevent atrocities and tragedies such as those happened in WW II from re-occurring, as global citizens; we have the right and obligation to raise the awareness of the people of the world on this serious issue. We will be organizing a series of events for exactly this purpose in the near future. We ask you to publicize and participate in these events. At this time, we would like to urge our Canadian government to boycott the activities for commemorating the 50th anniversary of the signing of the SFPT and to raise the textbook issue with the Japanese authorities through the appropriate channel as soon as possible.