JAPAN: New Treaty

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A wheel of history came full circle last week. In Tokyo, the U.S. and Japan signed a mutual defense assistance agreement in which the U.S. undertakes to arm the nation it was fighting only nine years ago. The crucial clause: "The government of Japan . . . will make, consistent with the political and economic stability of Japan, the full contribution permitted by its manpower, resources, facilities, and general economic conditions to the development and maintenance of its own strength and the defensive strength of the free world."

As a start, the Japanese will get 600,000 tons of U.S. surplus grain and U.S. orders for the sagging Japanese munitions industry will be stepped up. Japan will place specific requests for U.S. military equipment (planes, ships, guns) year by year, depending on how fast it can afford to expand its armed forces.

The treaty was a major step toward the day when U.S. forces can withdraw from Japan, and Japan takes its place as a friend and ally in the defense of the anti-Communist world.