This chapter revisits the San Francisco Peace Treaty process, explaining why the Soviet bloc opposed peace, why China was not invited, and why India declined to participate—explicitly stating Japan owed no apology. It clarifies why 49 nations constituted nearly the entire world at the time.

2016-02-23

The following is a continuation of the previous chapter. All emphasis within the text is mine.

Kusaka:
Many young people today may not be very familiar with this issue, so let me add a brief explanation.

In 1950 (Showa 25), with the outbreak of the Korean War, discussions arose regarding a peace treaty with Japan.
At that time, there were countries that opposed making peace with Japan.
As Mr. Watanabe has just mentioned, these were the Soviet Union and its satellite states—Poland and Czechoslovakia.

As for China, disagreements arose between Britain and the United States over whether to invite Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China or Mao Zedong’s People’s Republic of China, and as a result, China was not invited.

India, meanwhile, stated that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at the time said, “Japan has done nothing whatsoever that would require an apology to us, so we will not participate in the peace conference.”

Thus, the United States, the United Kingdom, and forty-nine countries around the world agreed to conclude a peace treaty.

Forty-nine countries may sound like a small number, but at that time much of Africa remained under colonial rule by Britain, France, and others and had not yet gained independence.
Therefore, it can be said that forty-nine countries represented “almost all of the world.”

To be continued.