Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume XXII, Northeast Asia

349. Memorandum of Conversation⁰

Tokyo, February 5, 1962.

PARTICIPANTS

• The Attorney General¹
• Ambassador Reischauer
• David L. Osborn
• Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda
• Chief Cabinet Secretary Masayoshi Ohira
• Member, House of Councillors, Kiichi Miyazawa

PLACE

• Prime Minister’s Residence, Shinanomachi

After an exchange of greetings, the Attorney General said that President Kennedy had asked him to tell the Prime Minister that he feels their meetings in Washington last year were most beneficial; that a great deal has been accomplished by the economic, scientific, and cultural conferences, and that a great deal more can be accomplished in the future. The President had also asked the Attorney General to reassure the Prime Minister that the arrangements and agreements which the United States is attempting to make with the members of the EEC will benefit not only the United States and the Western European countries, but also Japan. The President has emphasized again and again to the representatives of the countries concerned that it is not enough, for the sake of the strength of the EEC and the United States, and they become fortresses in isolation; they must share with others the benefits that they produce for themselves.

The Attorney General said he had also discussed with the President the cotton equalization fee. The Administration is in the midst of a major domestic struggle with some very important economic groups over its efforts to lower trade barriers. However, the President wanted to assure the Prime Minister that the trend in the United States is toward lower tariffs, and that as far as the equalization fee is concerned, all that has been done so far is to request the Tariff Commission to make a study of the program. The Attorney General explained that this problem presented some internal difficulty for the United States. There is unemployment in the textile industry, and a number of companies have gone out of business, with some economic upheaval and attendant problems for ordinary citizens. The President and the Attorney General, being natives of Massachusetts, which lost its textile mills to the South, are particularly aware of these problems. However, the President feels that the way to progress lies not in raising tariffs, but in lowering them. The Attorney General said the President was of course free to accept or reject the recommendation of the Tariff Commission after it had made its study.²

The Prime Minister expressed his appreciation for the President’s message. He went on to explain the sensitivity of current problems in United States-Japanese economic relations and the adverse reaction of Japanese businessmen to any signs of protectionism on the part of the United States, such as the “Buy American” policy and the AID purchases of fertilizer, which were undermining the natural development of Japanese markets in Southeast Asia. He criticized the “stereotyped” character of United States aid.

The Attorney General said that in view also of the problems on the American side, including the loss of gold, there are bound to be disagreements between Japan and the United States; but he said it was the judgment of the United States Government that there is so much good will between the two Governments and peoples that as a general matter difficulties can be resolved. Perhaps the particular difficulty mentioned by the Prime Minister was not going to be resolved, but in general the President was trying to move in the direction of closer relations with Japan.

The Prime Minister recalled that when he was in the United States in 1960 he had told Mr. Rockefeller that he thought it was premature to start working on a broader economic framework for Asia. Conditions have changed in the past year, however, and he thought the idea of an Asian Economic Community deserved more careful attention. He asked what the United States felt about the possibility of closer United States-Japanese cooperation in the development of Southeast Asia.

The Attorney General said the President is very much interested in this area; he thought that if Japan and the United States as partners can work jointly to develop this kind of cooperation, it would be very helpful in years to come.

The Prime Minister suggested that the United States ought to put more emphasis on Burma in its aid program (and perhaps less on India) and said that this was an area in which Japanese cooperation in economic assistance could be most helpful. He knew from close personal acquaintance with Burmese Chief of Staff Aung Gyin and other Burmese that the military there are anti-Communist. However, loans from Communist China totaling #160 million exert a powerful attraction. The Prime Minister mentioned the Burmese four-year economic development plan, and referred to the mission which Japan was about to send to Burma to assist in the development of this plan.

The Attorney General said he would mention the Prime Minister’s point to the President and to Mr. Hamilton of the AID program. He commented on the similarity of the developmental problems of Southeast Asia to those of South America, and hoped that Japan could take a more active part in sending expertise and technological assistance to these areas. He felt that the United States-Japanese partnership could play a most important part in planning and assisting the development of the less-developed countries. The Prime Minister agreed, but thought a concentrated effort should be made along these cooperative lines in Southeast Asia.

[Here follows discussion of Berlin, Laos, Vietnam, and Korea.]

0. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 033.1100-KE/2-2862 Confidential. Drafted by Osborn. This memorandum is enclosure 11 to despatch 731 from Tokyo, February 28.
1. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy visited Japan February 4-10 for a good will visit in the course of a world tour. Extensive documentation on his trip is ibid., 033.1100-KE. An evaluation and summary of the trip, along with memoranda of Kennedy’s principal conversations while in Japan, are in despatch 731.
2. On September 6 President Kennedy announced that the Tariff Commission had rejected the Agriculture Department’s recommendation for an import fee of 8.5 cents a pound on the cotton content of textile imports. He stated also his intention to recommend to the next Congress “legislation designed to remove the inequity created by the present two-price cotton system.” For text of this statement, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1962, pp. 664-665.