A concept to revise the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty (see below) in two stages was suggested to Washington when then Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi visited the United States in 1957. The plan was to amend the Constitution of Japan after the first revision of the treaty, then for the second revision to develop the treaty into one for mutual defense in which Japan and the United States would defend each other as equal partners, according to diplomatic documents released by the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.
In June 1957, Kishi visited the United States for the first time after he became prime minister and proposed revising the security treaty during a meeting with U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower.
According to the documents, Kishi told U.S. Ambassador to Japan Douglas MacArthur about his concept on the revision of the treaty in nine preparatory meetings before his visit to the United States.
In the first stage, the concept called for changing the status quo in which the security treaty allows the United States to use U.S. bases in Japan practically without limit and dispatch troops overseas from these bases. Japan would then seek to amend Article 9 of the Constitution so that the Self-Defense Forces can use force overseas such as by dispatching SDF personnel abroad.
The second revision of the security treaty would aim to conclude a new mutual defense treaty to obligate both sides to defend the other.
A draft dated March 13, 1957, created by the Japanese government prior to Kishi's visit to the United States, set the effective term of the security treaty for the first stage at five years to July 31, 1962.
A document dated May 6, 1957, on anticipated questions and prepared answers concerning the draft revision to the security treaty mentioned the reason for setting the five-year period. According to this document, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party wanted to fight the next elections for the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors after the security treaty was revised, hoping two-thirds or more members of each chamber of the Diet favorable to constitutional revision could be secured, the necessary threshold to amend the Constitution.
Three years would be necessary for an amended Constitution to be approved through a national referendum should the LDP win a landslide victory in the national elections and a draft amendment to the Constitution is initiated by the Diet, the document said. Five years total would then be enough to prepare the environment to shift to a full-fledged mutual defense treaty, it said.
"This has made clear that Kishi had a consistent policy from the start for amending the Constitution and creating a Japan-U.S. mutual defense treaty," said Takashi Shinobu, a professor of Japan-U.S. diplomatic history at Nihon University. "He had a desire for [realizing Japan's] true independence and building a close, cooperative relationship between the two countries."
-- Japan-U.S. Security Treaty
The treaty stipulates Japan-U.S. cooperation in Japan's security. Under the previous treaty concluded in 1951, Japan provided bases and other facilities to the U.S. military, while the United States had no obligation to defend Japan. The treaty revised in 1960 stipulated the U.S. obligation to defend Japan and established a framework to hold prior consultations concerning activities of U.S. forces.
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