CONTROL OF JAPAN

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24909, 24 June 1946, Page 5

CONTROL OF JAPAN

Commission Of Powers PROPOSALS BY U.S. (N.Z. Press Association— Copyright) WASHINGTON, June 22 Whiifc the Japanese Diet was given over to disorder (which ended m .an adjournment after a stormy 20 minutes), the United States was proposing to Britain, Russia, and China the creation of a Four-Power Control Commission for Japan, supervising Japanese affairs as part of a 25-year disarmament system. . The 25-year treaty would be sunilar to the proposal made by the United States Secretary of State (Mr Byrnes) for the control of Germany. The United States proposal would be operative when the present Japanese occupation ended, but indications are that if such a treaty is effected largescale occupation might end more quickly. . The Associated Press says that at present General MacArthur has virtually a complete monopoly of the direction of Japanese affairs. The proposed treaty, in effect, would end this situation as soon as the present occupation phase ended. The State Department has released the text of the proposed treaty, the avowed purpose of which is to ensure that Japan is kept in a state of disarmament and demilitarisation as long as world peace and security require. The principal points of the proposed treaty are:— • (1) Japan’s military organisation shall remain completely demobilised and disbanded, and Japan shall be deprived of all arms and explosives, including atomic materials, and also be deprived of all bases and factories for the production of arms and shall be allowed only civil police with small arms and such explosives as are necessary for industrial uses; (2) To enforce the foregoing objectives, the Four Powers shall operate through a Control Commission an inspection system,, keeping a constant check on Japanese disarmament and demilitarisation; (3) The Japanese themselves must accept this method of maintaining disarmament; (4) In the event of violation by the Japanese the Four Powers would move in by common agreement with the necessary forces to put the Japanese in their place again; (5) The treaty would come into force when ratified by each of the four Governments and could be re-

newed after 25 years for an additional period. Any changes then made would depend upon how far the Japanese had advanced in the reconstruction of their life on a democratic, peaceful basis. Confusion in Diet

Earlier messages from Tokyo said that the first plenary session of the Japanese Diet broke up in confusion when general disorder resulted from uncontrolled heckling. The Social Democrats. charged the Speaker (Senzo Higai) with unfairness and said he had not attempted to quell hecklers while the Social Democrat leader (Tetsu Katayama) was censuring the Liberal Cabinet’s programme and demanding a further revision of the draft constitution. Another Social Democrat (Katsu Nomizo) precipitated general disorder when he ran up the aisle shouting demands that Katayama be given a chance to be heard.

A member,. Shu Hara, who had been heckling noisily, grasped Nomizo and they tussled over the floor. More than 20 members joined in. The sergeant-at-arms vainly urged the combatants to restore order and, after 20 minutes of confusion, the Speaker adjourned the session. •Katayama’s speech had demanded a clarification of the Government’s attitude toward democracy. He also wanted a report on the Government’s progress toward a peace treaty and further information on food shortages. A later message says that as a measure of self-censure for the uproarious dissension, representatives from the Lower House agreed at an inter-party conference that legislators should refrain from heckling, hooting, and especially that they should never shout “Baka” (idiot). Editorial and mechanical workers of the Tokyo newspaper “Yomiuri” fought 15 police for an hour when the police appeared to arrest six employees who had ignored dismissal notices. The police, armed * with staves, finally emerged with two of the six employees, and also took into custody 56 other workers. The police acted on the complaint of the company’s president, whp accused the six men of colouring news with their political opinions.