Treaty of San Francisco

The Treaty of Peace with Japan (commonly known as the Treaty of San Francisco or San Francisco Peace Treaty), between Japan and part of the Allied Powers, was officially signed by 48 nations on September 8, 1951, at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, California. It came into force on April 28, 1952.

This treaty served to officially end World War II, to formally end Japan's position as an imperial power, and to allocate compensation to Allied civilians and former prisoners of war who had suffered Japanese war crimes. This treaty made extensive use of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to enunciate the Allies' goals.

This treaty, along with the Security Treaty signed that same year, is said to mark the beginning of the "San Francisco System"; this term, coined by historian John W. Dower, signifies the effects of Japan's relationship with the United States and its role in the international arena as determined by these two treaties and is used to discuss the ways in which these effects have governed Japan's post-war history.

Attending countries

Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida gives a speech on "reconciliation and rapport" (和解と信頼, wakai to shinrai^?) at the San Francisco Peace conference held at San Francisco Opera House. Later, he signed the peace treaty on the behalf of the Japanese government.

Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, The Philippines, Poland, Saudi Arabia, the Soviet Union, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Syria, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam attended the Conference.^[1]

Burma, India, and Yugoslavia were also invited, but did not participate;^[2] India considered certain provisions of the Treaty to constitute limitations on Japanese sovereignty and national independence.^[3] India signed a separate peace treaty, the Treaty of Peace Between Japan and India, for the purpose of giving Japan a proper position of honor and equality among the community of free nations, on June 9, 1952.^[4] Neither the Republic of China in Taiwan nor the People's Republic of China in mainland China were invited because of the Chinese Civil War and the controversy over which government was legitimate, and as a consequence of U.S.-U.K. disagreement over the Chinese participation, neither North nor South Korea was invited.^[5] Italy was not invited either, notwithstanding the fact that the anti-fascist Badoglio cabinet had issued a formal declaration of war to Japan on July 14, 1945, just a few weeks before the end of the war.^[6] Pakistan as a state had not existed at the time of the war but was invited anyway since it was a successor state to British India, a major combatant against Japan.

Soviet Union's opposition to the Treaty

The Soviet Union took part in the San Francisco conference, and the Soviet delegation was led by the Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko. From the start of the conference the Soviet Union expressed vigorous and vocal opposition to the draft treaty text prepared by the United States and the United Kingdom. The Soviet delegation made several unsuccessful procedural attempts to stall the proceedings.^[7] The Soviet Union's objections were detailed in a lengthy September 8, 1951 statement by Gromyko.^[8] The statement contained a number of Soviet Union's claims and assertions: that the treaty did not provide any guarantees against the rise of Japanese militarism; that Communist China was not invited to participate despite being one of the main victims of the Japanese aggression; that the Soviet Union was not properly consulted when the treaty was being prepared; that the treaty sets up Japan as an American military base and draws Japan into a military coalition directed against the Soviet Union; that the treaty was in effect a separate peace treaty; that the draft treaty violated the rights of China to Taiwan and several other islands; that several Japanese islands were ceded by the treaty to the United States despite the U.S. not having any legitimate claim to them; that the draft treaty, in violation of the Yalta agreement, did not recognize the Soviet Union's sovereignty over South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands; and other objections. It was not until October 19, 1956, that Japan and the Soviet Union signed a Joint Declaration ending the war and reestablishing diplomatic relations.^[9]

Ceylon's Defence of Japan

A major player in providing support for a post-war free Japan was the delegation from Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka). While many were reluctant to allow a free Japan capable of aggressive action and insisted that the terms of surrender should be rigidly enforced in an attempt to break the spirit of the Japanese nation, the Ceylonese Finance Minister J.R. Jayawardene spoke in defence for a free Japan and informed the conference of Ceylon's refusal to accept the payment of reparations that would harm Japan's economy. His reason was "We in Ceylon were fortunate that we were not invaded, but the damage caused by air raids, by the stationing of enormous armies under the South-East Asia Command, and by the slaughter-tapping of one of our main commodities, rubber, when we were the only producer of natural rubber for the Allies, entitles us to ask that the damage so caused should be repaired. We do not intend to do so for we believe in the words of the Great Teacher whose message has ennobled the lives of countless millions in Asia, that "hatred ceases not by hatred but by love". He ended the same speech by saying "This treaty is as magnanimous as it is just to a defeated foe. We extend to Japan the hand of friendship and trust that with the closing of this chapter in the history of man, the last page of which we write today, and with the beginning of the new one, the first page of which we dictate tomorrow, her people and ours may march together to enjoy the full dignity of human life in peace and prosperity".

Minister Jayewardene's speech was received with resounding applause. Afterwards newspapers such as the New York Times stated "The voice of free Asia eloquent, melancholy and strong with the tilt of an Oxford accent dominated the Conference. The ablest Asian spokesman at the Conference was Ceylon's Finance Minister J. R. Jayewardene".

Signatories and ratification

Of the 51 participating countries, 48 signed the treaty;^[10] Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Soviet Union refused.^[11]

The signatories to the treaty were: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Ceylon, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam and Japan.^[1]

The Philippines ratified the San Francisco Treaty on July 16, 1956, after the signing of a reparations agreement between both countries in May of that year^[12]. Indonesia did not ratify the San Francisco Peace Treaty. Instead, it signed with Japan a bilateral reparations agreement and peace treaty on January 20, 1958.^[13] A separate treaty, the Treaty of Taipei, formally known as the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty, was signed in Taipei on April 28, 1952, between Japan and the Republic of China, just hours before the Treaty of San Francisco went into effect.

Korea, nor its derivatives South Korea and North Korea, never signed the Treaty nor a separate peace arrangement with Japan.

The fate of Japanese overseas territories

Yoshida and members of the Japanese delegation sign the Treaty.

The document officially renounces Japan's treaty rights derived from the Boxer Protocol of 1901 and its rights to Korea, Formosa (Taiwan), Hong Kong (then a British colony), the Kuril Islands, the Pescadores, the Spratly Islands, Antarctica and Sakhalin Island.

Article 3 of the treaty formally put the Bonin Islands and the Ryukyu Islands, which included Okinawa and the Amami, Miyako and Yaeyama Islands groups, under U.S. trusteeship. The Amami Islands were eventually restored to Japan on December 25, 1953, as well as the Bonin Islands on April 5, 1968.^[14] In 1969 U.S.-Japan negotiations authorized the transfer of authority over the Ryūkyūs to Japan to be implemented in 1972. In 1972, the United States "reversion" of the Ryūkyūs occurred along with the ceding of control over the nearby (uninhabited) Senkaku Islands^[15]. Both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China, now commonly known as "Taiwan", argue that this agreement did not determine the ultimate sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands.

By Article 11 Japan accepted the judgments of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and of other Allied War Crimes Courts both within and outside Japan and agreed to carry out the sentences imposed thereby upon Japanese nationals imprisoned in Japan.

The document further set guidelines for repatriation of prisoners of war and renounces future military aggression under the guidelines set by the UN Charter. The document nullifies prior treaties and lays down the framework for Japan's current status of retaining a military that is purely defensive in nature.

There is also some ambiguity as to over which islands Japan has renounced sovereignty. This has led to both the Kuril Island conflict and the Diaoyutai/Senkaku dispute.

The Treaty of Taipei between Japan and the Republic of China acknowledged the terms of the San Francisco Treaty but added that all residents of Taiwan and the Pescadores were nationals of the Republic of China.

Some supporters of Taiwan independence argue that the language in San Francisco Peace Treaty proves the notion that Taiwan is not a part of China, for it does not explicitly state the sovereignty status of Taiwan after Japanese renunciation. In 1955, U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, co-author of San Francisco Peace Treaty, affirmed that the treaty ceded Taiwan to no one; that Japan "merely renounced sovereignty over Taiwan".^[16] Dulles said that America "cannot, therefore, admit that the disposition of Taiwan is merely an internal problem [of China]."^[16] This legal justification is rejected by both the PRC and ROC governments, both of which base their legal claims on Taiwan on the Instrument of Surrender of Japan which accepts the Potsdam Declaration and the Cairo Declaration. In addition, in more recent years supporters of Taiwan independence have more often relied on arguments based on self-determination as implied in the San Francisco Peace Treaty and popular sovereignty.

Compensation to Allied civilians and POWs

Transfer of Japanese overseas assets

Japanese overseas assets refers to all assets owned by the Japanese government, firms, organization and private citizens, in colonized or occupied countries. In accordance with Clause 14 of the Treaty, Allied forces confiscated all Japanese overseas assets, except those in China, which were dealt with under Clause 21. China repossessed all Japanese assets in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia, which included mineworks and railway infrastructure. Moreover, Clause 4 of the treaty stated that "the disposition of property of Japan and of its nationals...and their claims...against the authorities presently administering such areas and the residents...shall be the subject of special arrangements between Japan and such authorities." Consequently, it is considered that Korea was also entitled to the rights provided by Clause 21.

Japanese overseas assets in 1945 (1945, ¥15=1US$)
Country/region	Value (Yen)	Value (US Dollars)
Korea	7,025,600,000	468,370,000
Taiwan	42,542,000,000	2,846,100,000
North East China	146,532,000,000	9,768,800,000
North China	55,437,000,000	3,695,800,000
Central South China	36,718,000,000	2,447,900,000
Others	28,014,000,000	1,867,600,000
Total	¥379,499,000,000	$25,300,000,000

Compensation to Allied POWs

Clause 16 of the San Francisco Treaty states:

As an expression of its desire to indemnify those members of the armed forces of the Allied Powers who suffered undue hardships while prisoners of war of Japan, Japan will transfer its assets and those of its nationals in countries which were neutral during the war, or which were at war with any of the Allied Powers, or, at its option, the equivalent of such assets, to the International Committee of the Red Cross which shall liquidate such assets and distribute the resultant fund to appropriate national agencies, for the benefit of former prisoners of war and their families on such basis as it may determine to be equitable. The categories of assets described in Article 14(a)2(II)(ii) through (v) of the present Treaty shall be excepted from transfer, as well as assets of Japanese natural persons not residents of Japan on the first coming into force of the Treaty. It is equally understood that the transfer provision of this Article has no application to the 19,770 shares in the Bank for International Settlements presently owned by Japanese financial institutions.

Accordingly, Japan paid £4,500,000 to the Red Cross.

Clause 16 has served as a bar against subsequent lawsuits filed by former Allied prisoners of war against Japan. In 1998, a Tokyo court ruled against a suit brought by former Allied POW's, citing the San Francisco Treaty.^[17]

According to historian Linda Goetz Holmes, many funds used by the government of Japan were not Japanese funds but relief funds contributed by the governments of USA, UK and Netherlands and sequestered in the Yokohama Specie Bank during the final year of the war.^[18]

Allied territories occupied by Japan

Memorial for Treaty of San Francisco
Shimo-maruko Ohta ward Tokyo.

Clause 14 of the treaty stated that "Japan will promptly enter into negotiations with Allied Powers so desiring, whose present territories were occupied by Japanese forces and damaged by Japan, with a view to assisting to compensate those countries for the cost of repairing the damage done, by making available the services of the Japanese people in production, salvaging and other work for the Allied Powers in question."

Accordingly, the Philippines and South Vietnam received compensation in 1956 and 1959 respectively. Burma and Indonesia were not original signatories, but they later signed bilateral treaties in accordance with Clause 14 of the San Francisco Treaty.

Japanese compensation to countries occupied during 1941–45
Country	Amount in Yen	Amount in US$	Date of treaty
Burma	72,000,000,000	200,000,000	November 5, 1955
Philippines	198,000,000,000	550,000,000	May 9, 1956
Indonesia	80,388,000,000	223,080,000	January 20, 1958
Vietnam	14,400,000,000	38,000,000	May 13, 1959
Total	¥364,348,800,000	US$1,012,080,000	N/A

The last payment was made to the Philippines on July 22, 1976.

See also

• Political status of Taiwan
• Cairo Declaration (1943)
• Potsdam Declaration (July 1945)
• General Order No. 1 (Aug. 1945)
• Japanese Instrument of Surrender (Sep. 1945)
• Treaty of Taipei (1952)
• Treaty of Peace Between Japan and India

Germany:

• Potsdam Agreement, a similar agreement dealing with Germany.
• Paris Peace Treaties, 1947, similar treaties dealing with other countries in the European theatre.
• Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, a 1990 treaty with Germany that marked the final settlement between the Allied Powers and Germany decades after the end of WWII

References

External links

• Text of the treaty
• Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida's Speech at the San Francisco Peace Conference
• John Foster Dulles's Speech at the San Francisco Peace Conference
• Understanding the San Francisco Peace Treaty's Disposition of Formosa and the Pescadores