The Security Treaty at 50

Fifty years ago today, the current U.S.-Japan Security Treaty was signed at the White House, with Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi and U.S. President Eisenhower in attendance.

This event soon sparked the historic 1960 riots in protest of the treaty. Five months later, the national student league broke into the Diet Building, which lead to the death of Michiko Kanba. [Editor’s Note: Kanba was a student activist who was killed in clash with riot police.]

Fifteen years had passed since the end of World War II. Moreover, the United States and the Soviet Union were pitted against each other in the Cold War. Although the Korean War had entered an armistice, it was a period when wars like Vietnam were impending.

In a poll conducted by The Asahi Shimbun during this time, 38 percent of respondents said that there was a high risk that the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty will draw Japan into a war. As a way to maintain Japan’s security, 35 percent suggested that Japan become a neutral country.

Opposition to the reactionary image and heavy-handed politics of Prime Minister Kish — who was a class-A war criminal — was strong. Some also viewed this as the resurgence of nationalism that had been at low ebb since the U.S. occupation.

Fifty years later, the U.S.-Japan alliance has enjoyed a half-century of acceptance by Japanese society. Now, polls by Asahi Shimbun indicate that more than 70 percent of respondents want to maintain the alliance.

Since the end of the Cold War, the role of the U.S.-Japan alliance, redefined as a way to preserve stability in the Asia-Pacific region, has firmly taken root. Faced with the threat of North Korea, which persists in its nuclear and missile development, and an ascendant China, the Japanese share a broad sense of security thanks to the alliance.

Japan provides bases, and its Self-Defense Force and the American military share the burden of Japan’s defense. Under Article Nine of the Japanese Constitution, Japan’s defenses are limited to deterrence and may not project military power overseas. American forces stationed in Japan are not only protecting Japan, but are also contributing to security in the Asia-Pacific region by acting as a deterrent.

That is the enduring framework of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty. The very peace of mind afforded by Article Nine is behind the Japanese population’s support of the alliance.

There are natural limits on how far Japan ought to cooperate with the United States in its military endeavors. Japan dispatched its Self-Defense Force to Iraq in the midst of divided public opinion, but had there not been a brake in the form of Article Nine, the mission might not have stopped at providing reconstruction aid.

Japan’s Asian neighbors have also come to accept the alliance as a way to maintain stability in the region because they have been reassured by the fact that Japan’s constitution includes Article Nine.

Asia’s profile will continue to change. In the discussions begun by the Japanese and United States government to “strengthen the alliance,” Japan must actively suggest new roles and possibilities for cooperation. How to lighten the burden borne by Okinawa — where American military bases are concentrated — as well as how to resolve the problem of secret pacts between the United States and Japan, are also unavoidable issues.

However, the framework of both Article Nine and the security treaty continues to be useful in Japan’s international dealings.