とどくとおもう　Ⅱ

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◆Secret deal on Okinawa◆
The government has been consistently lying to the people. Even after undeniable evidence and reliable testimony emerged to contradict its claim, the government has refused to admit its deception, which has been going on for years.
We are referring to a secret agreement between Japan and the United States over the return of Okinawa's sovereignty to Japanese rule in 1972. Under the deal, the Japanese government secretly shouldered $4 million in costs for the reversion that Washington was supposed to pay.
Evidence of the secret deal turned up in U.S. diplomatic documents that were later declassified. The former chief of the Foreign Ministry's American Affairs Bureau who was involved in the negotiations with Washington over Okinawa's reversion has also admitted to the existence of the pact.
The government, however, has continued to deny that a secret agreement existed. This prompted journalist Toshio Hara, writer Hisae Sawachi and others to file a request recently for the disclosure of official records concerning the pact under the law on access to information held by administrative organs.
Takichi Nishiyama, then a reporter for The Mainichi Shimbun, learned of the secret and an opposition lawmaker who received government documents from Nishiyama concerning the deal hammered the government with questions about the allegations at the Diet.
Later, Nishiyama was indicted on charges that he had obtained the documents from a female employee of the Foreign Ministry in violation of the National Civil Service Law. The Supreme Court also found him guilty. This leakage of state secrets is remembered as a major scandal at the Foreign Ministry.
Independent of this case, which provoked various controversies, the freedom of information request seeks the disclosure of the classified documents themselves.
The $4 million the Japanese government paid was used to restore plots of military land occupied by U.S. forces to their original state--farmland. At that time, the United States was in fiscal straits, mainly because of the Vietnam War. It is believed that then Prime Minister Eisaku Sato decided on the arrangement to accelerate negotiations on Okinawa's reversion to Japan.
If the secret agreement is disclosed, the government would have to admit that it lied to the people. That is apparently why the government continued to deny the story, no matter what evidence turned up to refute its claim. If that is the case, the government has been violating the people's right to know.
The agreement was reached more than 30 years ago. Everybody involved in the deal is either retired or dead. Even if the government reveals the truth now, no serious question of responsibility would be raised.
Yet the government remains stubborn, probably because there are likely other secret agreements.
Declassified U.S. diplomatic documents have hinted at even more controversial secret agreements between Japan and the United States concerning the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japan and the launching of combat operations from U.S. bases in Japan in response to a crisis on the Korean Peninsula. The government would have to admit to these agreements to an unsuspecting public.
In this country, however, supreme power is vested in the people, and official documents belong to the people. Healthy tension and accountability can exist in politics only when it is guaranteed as a principle that even records of diplomatic negotiations that contain politically sensitive details will eventually be published. Transparency affects the foundation of democracy.
The three diplomatic documents named in the disclosure request have all been made available to the public in the United States. The government cannot refuse the request by saying they don't exist.
If the government of the Liberal Democratic Party continues to deny the existence of the secret Okinawa deal, Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) could promise the public to expose lies told by successive administrations through wresting power from the ruling party.
This is a truly grave issue that tests the maturity of this nation's democracy.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 5(IHT/Asahi: September 6,2008)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200809060052.html

元記事は無論ジャパニ～ズ。
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◆沖縄密約―政府は文書を公開せよ◆
　政府が国民にうそをつき続ける。動かぬ証拠や証言を突きつけられても、しらを切る。そんなことがこの日本でまかり通っている。
　１９７２年に沖縄が日本に返還される際、日米両政府は密約を結び、本来は米側が負担するはずだった返還費用４００万ドルを肩代わりした。
　この密約の存在は、後に公開された米政府の外交文書で裏付けられた。交渉にあたった当時の外務省アメリカ局長も事実を認めている。
　それでも「そんな密約はなかった」と否定し続けている政府に対して、ジャーナリストの原寿雄さんや作家の澤地久枝さんらが、密約を記した日本側文書を公表するよう情報公開法に基づいて請求した。
　この密約は当時の毎日新聞記者、西山太吉氏が察知し、裏付けとなる文書を渡された野党議員が国会で政府を追及した。その後、文書を外務省の女性職員から入手したことを理由に、西山氏は国家公務員法違反（守秘義務違反のそそのかし）で起訴され、有罪が確定した。外務省機密漏洩（ろうえい）事件である。
　今回の開示請求は、さまざまな議論を呼んだ事件の経緯とは別に、密約文書そのものの開示を求めるものだ。
　日本が払った４００万ドルは、米軍が占有していた軍用地を元の田畑に戻すための費用だ。当時はベトナム戦争などで米側の財政事情が苦しく、交渉をまとめるために佐藤栄作首相が決断したとされる。
　密約を明かせば、これまで国民にうそをついていたと認めなければならない。だから、どんな証拠が出てこようと無理を承知でしらを切り続ける。そうだとすれば、国民の知る権利を政府自らが侵害していることになる。
　３０年以上も前のことだ。関係者はみな退職したり、亡くなったりしているから、重大な責任問題にはなるまい。なのに政府がこうまでかたくななのは、ほかにも密約があるからだろう。
　日本への核持ち込みや朝鮮半島有事の際の在日米軍基地からの出撃などに関して、もっと重大な密約があることが、公開された米外交文書で明らかになっている。それも認めなければならなくなる、というわけだ。
　しかし、この国の主人公は国民であり、公文書は国民のものである。機微に触れる外交交渉の記録でも、後に公開されるという原則が守られてこそ、政治に緊張と責任感が生まれる。透明性は民主主義の根幹にかかわるのだ。
　今回、公開請求された外交文書３点はすべて米側で公表されている。存在しないという回答は通用しない。
　自民党政府が密約を認めないなら、民主党は、政権交代を通じて歴代政権のうそを暴くと国民に公約してはどうか。日本の民主主義の成熟度を問う、それほど重い問題なのだ。
http://www.asahi.com/paper/editorial20080905.html

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