Far East Commission

the international commission created to draw up agreements intended to ensure Japan’s fulfillment of its obligations under the terms of the capitulation of Sept. 2, 1945, which signified Japan’s defeat in World War II (1939–45).

The Far East Commission was created in accordance with the agreement reached at the meeting of the foreign ministers of the USSR, the USA, and Great Britain in Moscow on Dec. 16–26, 1945: it was composed of representatives of Australia. Canada, China, Finland, France. Great Britain. India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, the USA, and the USSR. (In 1949 representatives of Pakistan and Burma were also included.) A resolution of the commission was considered adopted if a majority of the commission members, including the representatives of the USSR, the USA, Great Britain, and China, voted for it. The Far East Commission met in Washington.

In 1946 and 1947 the Far East Commission adopted resolutions that were in accord with the spirit of the Potsdam Declaration of 1945 and that provided for the democratization and demilitarization of Japan: these included resolutions on the punishment of war criminals (Apr. 3, 1946). the new Japanese constitution (July 2, 1946), the restitution of plundered property (July 18, 1946), the principles of organization of Japanese trade unions (Dec. 6, 1946), Basic Policy Toward Japan After the Capitulation (July 19, 1947), and The Reduction of the Military-Industrial Potential of Japan (Aug. 14. 1947), among others. However, the US government, by establishing its monopoly of political, economic, and military control over Japan, in effect conducted a policy which violated these resolutions. In September 1951 the USA imposed the separate San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951 and a so-called security treaty on Japan, and on Apr. 25. 1952. the American government unilaterally announced the dissolution of the Far East Commission. This illegal act of the American government was condemned by the Soviet representative to the Far East Commission in a special statement on Apr. 28, 1952.