Treaty of Peace with Japan

The Treaty of Peace with Japan (Japanese: ?????????), between the Allied Powers and Japan, was officially signed by 48 nations on September 8, 1951 in San Francisco, California. Therefore this treaty is popularly known as the Treaty of San Francisco. It entered into force on April 28, 1952.

Related Topics:
Allied Powers - Japan - Nation - September 8 - 1951 - San Francisco, California - April 28 - 1952

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The treaty served to officially end World War II and resolve Japan's position as an imperial Asian power. The Treaty makes extensive use of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to enunciate the Allies' goals for the treaty and rest Japan's fate in the hands of the international community.

Related Topics:
World War II - UN Charter - Universal Declaration of Human Rights

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The document officially renounces Japan's treaty rights derived from the Boxer Protocol of 1901 and its rights to Korea, Formosa (Taiwan), the Kuril Islands, the Pescadores, Spratly Islands, Antarctica and the Sakhalin Island. The treaty does not formally state which nations are sovereign over these areas, a fact that some supporters of Taiwan independence use to justify Taiwanese self-determination according to Article 77b of the Charter of the United Nations, which applies trusteeships to "territories which may be detached from enemy states as a result of the Second World War." In fact however, except for the Ryukyus, the areas over which Japan renounced sovereignty were never brought under any formal UN trusteeship arrangement, and hence the specifications of Article 77 are inapplicable to them.

Related Topics:
Japan - Boxer Protocol - Korea - Taiwan - Kuril Islands - Pescadores - Spratly Islands - Antarctica - Sakhalin - Taiwan independence - Self-determination

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Article 3 of the treaty formally put the Ryukyus (Okinawa) under U.S. trusteeship, until a 1971 act of self determination in which the Okinawans voted to become a prefecture of Japan. In 1972, the sovereignty of the Ryukyus and the nearby (uninhabited) Senkaku Islands was transferred to Japan.

Related Topics:
Okinawa - U.S. - 1971

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By Article 11 Japan accepted the judgments of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and of other Allied War Crimes Courts both within and outside Japan, and agreed to carry out the sentences imposed thereby upon Japanese nationals imprisoned in Japan.

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The document further set guidelines for repatriation of prisoners of war and renounces future military aggression under the guidelines set by the UN Charter. The document nullifies prior treaties and lays down the framework for Japan's current status of retaining a military that is purely defensive in nature.

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There is also some ambiguity as to which islands Japan has renounced sovereignty over. This has led to the Kuril Island conflict.

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Neither the Republic of China nor the People's Republic of China were invited to the San Francisco Peace Conference and therefore neither signed this treaty. The Republic of China, however, enacted a separate Treaty of Peace with Japan in 1952, which basically acknowledged the terms of the San Francisco Treaty.

Related Topics:
Republic of China - People's Republic of China - San Francisco Peace Conference - Treaty of Peace with Japan - 1952

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Thereby, China, not being a party on the treaty, was legally prohibited to be benefited from the sovereignty of Taiwan according to Article 25 in the treaty.

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