October 31, 1952
MEMORANDUM FOR S/S
In his conversation with the Secretary this morning, Canadian Foreign Minister Pearson said the Canadians had reached a point where they felt they had to know where they stand on the agreement relating to their rights in Japan. He said that as the matter now stood, they simply did not have any status and that this matter was bound to be raised when the Canadian Parliament meets in November. He said that the question was why we cannot get on with reaching a satisfactory agreement and he wondered whether the State Department could not give the Canadians some clarification and satisfaction on this point.
(In mentioning this to me the Secretary said that the Canadian position was very much up in the air because the Japanese Government has not agreed to give the Canadians a status agreement comparable to our own. He said that our agreement is based on the status of our troops following our former position as an Occupying Power. Apparently the Japanese do not want to give the Canadians a similar agreement and have indicated they will not consider doing so unless the Canadians adjust their troop strength in accordance with the formula applying to American troops in their present position as contrasted to their former position during their occupation.)
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