Gov't loses people's trust for denying secret pacts on Okinawa reversion with U.S. - The Mainichi Daily News
The government is likely to lose the trust of the people for constantly denying that secret pacts existed between Japan and the United States over the reversion of Okinawa in 1972 after a former high-ranking official of the Foreign Ministry testified on their existence in court.
If his testimony is fully verified, it would prove a historic lie by a state. Moreover, the testimony provided by Bunroku Yoshino, former head of the ministry's American Affairs Bureau, is likely to have a huge impact on the government's investigations into other secret pacts between Tokyo and Washington.
When the U.S. National Archives disclosed a document on a secret agreement on Okinawa in 2000, then Foreign Minister Yohei Kono denied the existence of any secret accord between the two countries. "We only signed the official agreement on the reversion of Okinawa, and there was no secret accord," he told a news conference at the time.
Kono also denied that the initials, "B Y" in the signature on the document stand for Bunroku Yoshino, saying, "I confirmed with Mr. Yoshino that no secret pact existed."
When the U.S. National Archives released another document in 2002, then Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said that the ministry will not investigate the issue, stating, "Foreign Minister Kono confirmed that no secret pact existed after contacting former Director General Yoshino, so we have no intention of probing the case."
However, after Yoshino acknowledged in an interview with the press in 2006 that Japan and the United States signed secret pacts, then Foreign Minister Taro Aso changed the basis for the government's denial of the existence of any such agreement.
"It's natural to believe what incumbent Foreign Ministry bureaucrats say rather than a retired bureaucrat," said Aso, who later served as prime minister.
However, the Democratic Party of Japan-led government has been proactively trying to probe the secret pacts since its inauguration in mid-September in sharp contrast to the previous administration led by the Liberal Democratic Party.
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada allowed Yoshino to testify over the secret pacts before the court. Under the Code of Civil Procedure, retired bureaucrats must gain approval from the organizations they belonged to before testifying in court over confidential information relating to their former duties.
In addition, the government on Tuesday withheld testimony over the secret accord on Japan shouldering some of the expenses related to U.S. forces in Okinawa, a departure from the previous administration's denial of such pacts.
During a news conference following Tuesday's court hearing, Yoshino admitted that Kono had phoned him in 2000 and asked him to deny that secret pacts existed.
"I don't think Kono made the remarks in question based on his convictions. Rather, I guess he had been urged to do so by bureaucrats," Yoshino said.
It's now time for the government to get to the bottom of these secret pacts. (By Hiroshi Dai, Mainichi Shimbun)