Russians at San Francisco
It will be interesting to see whether Mr. Gromyko will follow, at the Japanese Treaty Conference at San Francisco on Septem- ber 4th, the Russian precedent of 1945, when the Russian delega-, tion at the San Francisco Conference which drew up the Charter' of the United Nations refused American hospitality and main- tained its headquarters in a Russian ship off the coast. Si* years ago feeling towards Russia was still sufficiently friendly to suffer a shock at this act of distrust and discourtesy. Today the automatic reaction to the unexpected acceptance by the Russians of the invitation to come to San Francisco is a bout of speculation about the exact nature of the trouble they intend to make. But there is really very little need for speculation. The Soviet Government has consistently argued that the Treaty has been improperly drawn up, without Russian agreement ; that tint Peking Government should be a signatory ; that the existing draft places Japan in a position of dependence on the United I/ States ; and that the former Japanese dependefic of Formosa should be returned to China. There is nothing ew in this. It would, therefore, be very unfortunate if the attendance of a Russian delegation should be treated as the most important feature of the San Francisco meeting. The draft Treaty would in any case probably bear more than the four days' discussion which have been allowed for in the time-table. It has been drawn up largely by one man, Mr. John Foster Dulles, whose intentions are above reproach, but whose attitude of complete faith in the democratic and friendly intentions of the Japanese is almost as extreme as the attitude of distrust and hatred towards them which was current six years ago. The fears of ‘Australia and New Zealand concerning the future intentions of Japan have only been allayed by means of a defence agreement between themselves and the United States ; the French Govern- ment has formally protested against its exclusion from the treaty negotiations ; and several Asian countries, notably India, have serious objections to the draft. There is obviously plenty to discuss,:and it would be a pity if these legitimate questions were thrown overboard either through undue haste or by undue con- centration on the destructive arguments of the Russians.
