The 50^th Anniversary of the San Francisco Peace Treaty

The San Francisco Peace Treaty was a document, the world has never seen before and is not likely to see again. The Japanese could not have written a better deal for themselves. Their war crimes were forgotten and no questions were asked about the loot they had gathered under the supervision of members of the Imperial family in the territories they had conquered.

The Treaty betrayed American and Allied members of the armed services and civilians alike.

It denied them the right to seek justice from an enemy who had used cruelty as a weapon of war.

Celebrations

8 September 2001 was the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty, and commemorative events had been planned by the Japan America Society of Northern California to celebrate the peaceful relations between the two nations and the prosperity it has brought, with a conference including ceremonies, dinners etc. These were attended by political and corporate leaders of both nations under the banner of "The US - Japan 21^st Century Project ".

The Japan Foreign Minister, Tanaka, and the US Secretary of State Colin Powell attended the ceremony commemorating the bilateral treaty in San Francisco, before holding a lunch meeting attended by the former Secretary of State George Shultz, and other dignitaries.

Yes, the Japanese had something to celebrate and Japanese leaders were looking to future relationships with the USA. Japan, with the collaboration of the USA, has chosen to ignore the issues of the past. With it's powerful ally the USA, and on the strength of the peace Treaty the Japanese feel no need to make amends for their war crimes or pay reparations. Some carefully selected words without commitment have been considered sufficient compensation for the immense damage they wrought in Asia and the Pacific region. With big brother America on their side they felt confident enough to occupy some disputed islands in the South China sea in May 1997.

In 1951, China and the two Korea's, who had suffered much during the Japanese occupation, and along with Russia, were not invited to the peace conference. Britain and the Netherlands objected to clause 14 b, which absolved Japan from any claims for damages or reparations, but were persuaded into signing it. Released classified documents have proven this.

Japan now claims that it has fulfilled all it's responsibilities.

The Other International Conference

Those who see the Peace Treaty as an instrument whereby the USA has betrayed it's principles, it's people and it's allies, hosted a conference to protest against the treaty which they consider an obstacle to genuine peace and stability in Asia and the Pacific, particularly because of the Japanese unwillingness to make amends for it's war crimes during it's conquest of Asia.

The conference was entitled " 50 Years of Denial: Japan and it's Wartime Responsibilities; an International Conference, hosted by the University of California Berkeley Asian American Studies Department. Director Prof. Ling-Chi Wang and Dr.Clifford Uyeda- were Co- chairman

It was held at the Radison Miyako hotel in Japan town

Some of the organizations which were represented or had sent delegations, were:

Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WW II in Asia. (GA)

President: Dr. Ivy Lee, Ph D, Professor Emeritus, California State University, Sacramento and it's affiliate;

Rape of Nanking Redress Coalition, (RNRC) an affiliate of GA

Alliance for Preserving the Truth of Sino-Japanese War . (APTSJW)

Truth Council for WW 11 in Asia

American Ex-Prisoners of War,

Members of the Bastards of Bataan, and Americans and Filipino service men who were captured by the Japanese in 1942.

British Colombia, ALPHA

President Thekla Lit and Joseph Tong

Stichting Japanese Ereschulden

EJOS Inc

Events

The Rape of Nanking Redress Coalition paid for a full -page ad in the New York Times of 5 Sept 2001 entitled:

GERMANY HAS FACED ITS CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY.

WHY NOT JAPAN?

"On Sept 8,1951, the San Francisco Peace Treaty blocked restitution for millions of Japan's victims in the Asia-Pacific War: Today, the survivors still have no redress. With your help that will change. "

This ad was followed by a well attended press conference on 6 Sept. to present

"50 Years of Denial " a series of discussions, testimonies and photographic evidence.

Holly Wong: produced an exhibition about Japanese atrocities committed in Nanking: "Testimony to a Massacre" A multi-media work of photographs and victim testimonials.

Dai Sil Kim-Gibson, author of a book and film about the plight of the Comfort women of Korea and

Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking: the forgotten Holocaust of WW II. both attended.

Historical evidence was also presented by some of the victims of Japanese oppression : e.g.

N I Cuiping, who was 11 years old when the Japanese occupied Nanking, killed her parents, her family and shot her in the shoulder, which has never healed.

A comfort woman etc.

We all have a story to tell, so Henk and I gave our stories in a 15 minutes time slot for each speaker.

It was recognized that the ill feelings generated by the traitorous terms of the peace treaty should not be discussed behind closed doors, but should be made public to be effective.

A number of events had been organized for this purpose. On Saturday, 8 September a demonstration to protest against the terms of the peace treaty in front of the San Francisco City Hall, where delegates of the USA and Japan were having lunch had been organized. Two of us, Evert v. Renesse v. Duivenbode from the Netherlands and Syd Bijl from New Zealand were the only two Europeans in this demonstration as far as I know. There were no British, Australians or Canadians, that I saw. It was a noisy demonstration attended by Asians, flying mainly Chinese, Korean and Taiwanese flags.

Police held the peace, but I have been told that at the rear of the City Hall a contingent of reinforcements and paddy wagons had been stationed. Motorists hooted in support. One estimate said there were 1,000 marchers. The San Francisco Chronicle had a front-page picture of the demonstration.

This was followed in the evening by an outdoor concert rally but we had to leave for our return to NZ. The crowd was estimated to be between 7,000 and 20,000.

After attending the demonstration, I returned to the hotel and spoke of my personal experiences. It was most encouraging to meet the organizers and participants of this conference. My hope is that these people will carry on the cause so that the truth will be heard very clearly and that people will learn from these events. Unfortunately the events of 11 September totally eclipsed our effort. I gained much from the meeting and I was proud to represent you. Syard Bijl