SOVIET-JAPANESE BDEMALIZATIOH TALKS IE 1955-56: With Special Reference to the Attitude of Britain TAKAHIKQ TAEAKA Dissertation for Ph.D. The London School of Economics and Political Science. 7 UMI Number: U048360 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U048360 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ' f e s e . s , r 3 1 3 Q , . Library British Library ofPolitical and Economic Science J 2 S 6 6 U ABSTRACT OF THESIS Soviet-Japanese relations were re-established in October 1956, After the end of the Pacific war, the Soviet Union and Japan did not restore diplomatic relations because of Soviet refusal to participate in the San Francisco Peace Treaty. In the middle of the 1950s, both countries began to search for a way to normalization. In the summer of 1955, the negotiations for normalization of Soviet-Japanese relations started in London. The most intractable problem was the territorial question over the disposition of the Kuriles and southern Sakhalin. The negotiations were prolonged because the two governments could not reach a definite agreement on this issue. On 19 October 1956, as a result of the negotiations which had lasted for more than a year, both the two countries finally reached an agreement to re-establish diplomatic relations by shelving the territorial issue. This thesis mainly deals with process of the Soviet-Japanese normalization talks. The following points were mainly focused in this thesis. Firstly, the negotiations on the territorial issue are examined and described in detail. Chapter 1 deals with Anglo-American treatment of the issue during the period from the Yalta Secret Agreement to the San Francisco Peace Treaty and discribes how the territorial issue came into existence. Chapters 3 to 8 describe the development of the negotiations on this issue in 1955-6. Secondly, this thesis examines British and American attitudes towards the normalization talks. Previously, American attitudes have been touched on by the preceeding works. But the attitudes of Britain, which was one of the most important signatory to the San Francisco Peace Treaty and one of the most significant western allies for the Japanese, have been ignored. This thesis attempts to cast some analytical light on the British attitudes by relying on the documents of Public Record Office. The American attitudes are also examined, based on the State Department documents. Finally, domestic influence in Japan on the negotiations is analized. Though there are many domestic factors which should be examined, focus of analysis is placed on policy divergence within the Japanese political leaders. These foci are not treated separately in this thesis. Rather, the Soviet- Japanese normalization talks are dealt with in this thesis as an interaction among those abovementioned factors. CONTENTS PREFACE. --------------------------------------------------- 7 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. ------------------------------------ 9 MAPS. ---------------------------------------------------- 10 INTRODUCTION: RUSSO-JAPANESE RELATIONS, 1855-1951. ------- 13 PART I . BACKGROUND CHAPTER 1: SAN FRANCISCO PEACE TREATY * SOVIET-JAPANESE TERRITORIAL QUESTION. ------------------- ;--------------- 26 The Kuriles and Southern Sakhalin during Early Occupation Period. --------- 29 Early Planning of a Peace with Japan and Soviet-Japanese Territorial Question. ---------------------------- 34 John Foster Dulles' 'Seven Principles' and Britain's Reaction. ---------------------------------------- 43 Dulles-Yoshida Consultations. ------------------- 54 U.S. 'March Draft' and British 'April Draft'. ---- 60 Anglo-American Joint Draft Treaty and Dulles Younger Consultations. ----------------------------------- 68 San Francisco Peace Conference and Ratification of Peace Treaty. ------------------------------------------- 78 CHAPTER 2: SOVIET-JAPANESE RELATIONS FROM SAN FRANCISCO PEACE TREATY TO DOWNFALL OF YOSHIDA. -------------------------- 93 Tactical Change of Japanese Communists under Soviet Influence. ------------------------------------------93 Japan's Attitude towards Peace with Russia, 1951.— 99 Change in Soviet Foreign Policy towards Japan, 1952-3. 102 Change in Japanese Position on the Territorial Issue. 110 Vishinsky and Molotov's Peace Overtures in 1954.— 116 Sino-Soviet Joint Declaration. ------------------ 125 Downfall of Yoshida. ----------------------------- 128 PAST II. NEGOTIATIONS IS LOSWS CHAPTER 3: ROAD TO THE LONDON TALKS. 139 Advent of the Hatoyama Administration and Announcement of its Normalization Policy. ------------------------139 Response from the Soviet Union: Approach through the Domnitsky Letter. -------------------------------- 142 Japan's Decision to Open the Negotiations with the U.S.S.R. 146 Japan's Basic Policy for the Negotiations: Instruction No. 16.-------------------------- -----------------------157 Instruction No. 16 and Japan's Policy on the Territorial Question. -----------------------165 British Attitude towards Normalization. --------- 169 CHAPTER 4: THE FIRST LONDON TALKS: PHASE 1. 135 Start of the Negotiations. -----------------------185 Repatriation and Territorial Questions. --------- 200 Reaction of the United States. ------------------ 210 British Views and Reaction. ---------------------- 216 CHAPTER 5: THE LONDON TALKS: PHASE 2. -------------------- 228 Soviet Concessions. ------------------------------ 228 Japanese Reactions to Soviet Concessions. -------- 236 Deadlock. ---------------------------------------- 247 Japan's Quest for International Support for her Territorial Claims. -----------------------257 British Attitudes, ------------------------------- 265 Conservative Herger and its Effect on Japan's Normalization Policy. -----------------------272 PAST III. NEGOTIATIONS IN MOSCOW * SOVIET-JAPANESE JOINT DECLARATION. CHAPTER 6: The Second London Talks & Moscow. ------------264 The Second London Talks. -------------------------- 284 Fishery Negotiations in Moscow. ------------------ 294 s Change in Japan's Policy before the normalization Talks in Moscow. ------------------------30? CHAPTER 7: THE FIRST MOSCOW TALKS. ----------------------325 Minor Concessions by Japan and Soviet Response. — 325 Shigemitsu's Decision to Accept Soviet Terms. ---- 331 Shigemtisu-Dulies Conversations. ----------------- 342 Britain's Attitude. ------------------------------- 352 CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSIONS OF SOVIET-JAPANESE JOINT DECLARATION. 361 Decision on Hatoyama's Visit to Moscow. ---------- 361 U.S. Aide-Memoire on the Northern Territories Question and Britain's Attitude. --------------------------------- 367 Sdcond Moscow Talks and Conclusions of Joint Declaration. 37v3 CONCLUSIONS. 392 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 419 6 PREFACE On 19 October 1956, the Soviet Union and Japan normalized their relations after more than ten years of the lack of diplomatic relations. For Japan, normalization with Russia was one of the most crucial tasks which she had to carry out as an independent country after the San Francisco Peace Treaty had come into effect. For the Soviet Union, it was a crucial goal of her new foreign policy which was aimed to reduce international tensions between East and Vest. As a result of Soviet-Japanese normalization, the two countries terminated the state of war and exchanged ambassadors. But Soviet-Japanese territorial dispute over the disposition of Japan's former northern islands, the Kuriles and southern Sakhalin, could not be settled. Since then, the territorial question between Russia and Japan has been a stumbling block to further improvement of their relations. Even now, when the leaders of both of the superpowers have declared the end of the cold war, the territorial question seems to prevent the Japanese and the Russians from expanding new horizon of Soviet-Japanese relations. In other words, the result of Soviet-Japanese normalization in 1955-56 have been imposing negative effects on relations between the two, more than three decades. This thesis is primarily an account of the negotiations leading up to the Soviet- Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956, whereby the two countries re­ established their diplomatic relations. 7 Although the official documents on this issue of the Soviet Union and Japan were still closed, it has recently become possible to have an access to British and American documents regarding foreign policy in 1955 and 1956. In addition to that, several important private diaries have also recently become open to public in Japan. It is now possible to examine the progress of Soviet- Japanese negotiations more deeply and more satisfactorily by relying on those materials. At the same time, American and British attitudes towards the negotiations can be more positively examined. Researches for this thesis have mainly been carried out at the Public Record Office in Kew. I have also visited the Rational Archives in Washington D. C. to consult the State Department files. This visit was financially assisted by the Central Research Fund of the University of London. Here I would