Full Rapprochement

Abstract

After Yoshida Shigeru, the Japanese administration was taken over by Hatoyama Ichiro (Prime Minister: 10 December 1954 — 23 December 1956) and subsequently by the short-lived cabinet of Ishibashi Tanzan (Prime Minister: 23 December 1956 — 25 February 1957). These administrations continued Yoshida’s principle of vigorous ‘economic diplomacy’ towards Asia, aiming at the peaceful promotion of Japanese international influence through economic means. Under these prime ministers, Japan gained full membership of GATT, attended the Bandung Conference of Afro-Asian countries in 1955, and was allowed to join the United Nations in December 1956. On Japanese admission to the UN, in his speech at the General Assembly, the then Foreign Minister Shigemitsu Mamoru emphasized Japan’s willingness to become ‘a bridge between East and West’. As for relations with Malaya, the Hatoyama government continued to promote trade, received the Marshall Delegation and formed the Japan—Malaya—Singapore Association as explained in Chapter 5.