Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, China and Japan, Volume XIV, Part 2

794C.0221/11–1053

No. 709
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Robertson) to the Under Secretary of State (Smith)¹

secret

[Washington,] October 29, 1953.

Subject:

• Status of Arrangements for Transfer of Amami Group to Japan.

1. State, Defense and Treasury have reached staff level agreement on the fiscal and administrative arrangements involved in the transfer of the Amami group to Japan.

2. State–Defense agreement at the staff level has been reached on the text² of the exchange of notes between the United States and Japan effecting the transfer. The United States note will contain a unilateral declaration that we do not intend for the present to modify the degree of control and authority we now exercise in the rest of the Ryukyus, “pending the establishment of enduring conditions of peace and stability in the Far East.”³ The original NSC language was “… during the present international tensions in the Far East.”⁴

3. In place of the JCS–FEC proposal for special arrangements in the Amami group outside of the Security Treaty and Administrative Agreement, FE has proposed to Defense an enclosure to the exchange of notes which would provide for the application of the Security Treaty and Administrative Agreement to the Amami group but at the same time establish Japanese recognition of the unique strategic relationship existing between the Amami group and Okinawa. Within this framework FE proposes to spell out in unpublished minutes certain of those special rights in the Amami group desired by the JCS which are believed to be politically negotiable and which are not considered to be clearly stated in the Administrative Agreement. Such minutes would cover United States access to air space and territorial waters, permission to conduct site surveys and to remove devices interfering with the United States radar system, and the interchange of radar positions. The effectiveness and protection of the United States radar system in the Amami group is the primary concern of the JCS. A second enclosure would provide for our retention of the facilities we now hold and any additional facilities the JCS think we may need in the future.

4. Defense liked our proposal and is submitting it to the JCS.

5. Our proposal has met with the approval of the Embassy. The Ambassador had informed us earlier that the Japanese Government is aware of the strategic problem involved and will go to great lengths to meet legitimate United States needs so long as an unbearable political problem is not created for them.

6. The JCS are expected to consider our proposal within the week. If further delay is encountered, we shall ask you to take the matter up directly with Defense.⁵

1. Attached to a memorandum from Robertson to the Under Secretary dated Nov. 10, not printed.
2. This draft text, not printed, is also attached to the memorandum cited in footnote 1 above.
3. Language along these lines had been suggested by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in their memorandum to the Secretary of Defense dated Oct. 16. Regarding the JCS memorandum, see footnote 3, Document 705.
4. The draft from which this quotation is taken has not been found in Department of State files. Ellipsis in the source text.
5. Documents in file 794C.0221 for November 1953 indicate that a U.S. negotiating position along the lines set forth in this memorandum had been approved by the Secretary of State and the Department of Defense by Nov. 20. On that day draft texts of the U.S. note, together with drafts of three enclosures and a draft of unpublished minutes, were transmitted to the Embassy in telegram 1212 to Tokyo, as a basis for negotiations. (794C.0221/11–2053)