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Japan Joins U.S. Bid to Seat China

Tokyo, Sept. 22 -- Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato announced today that Japan would join the United States in co-sponsoring two resolutions in the United Nations session designed to combine the admission of China to the United Nations with the retention of an assembly seat for Taiwan.

The announcement came in the face of opposition from three leading factions in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party led by two former foreign ministers, Masayoshi Ohira and Takeo Miki, and the current chairman of the party's executive committee, Yasuhiro Nakasone, former director of the National Defence Agency.

One projected U.N. resolution would make expulsion of Taiwan from the United Nations an important question requiring a two-thirds majority vote, and a second would explicitly provide for dual representation of Peking and Taipei, with Peking getting the permanent seat on the Security Council.

Japan's decision to co-sponsor the American resolutions will make a big difference to the effort to keep Taiwan in the United Nations -- but may not be enough to guarantee success, U.N. diplomats told Anthony Astrachan of The Washington Post.

The diplomats expected the Japanese move to induce other countries to join the nine co-sponsors that the Americans had already lined up and to win votes on the floor, particularly from Asian nations.

Some said it would make a particular difference on the resolution to declare the expulsion of Taiwan an important matter, requiring a two-thirds vote. But they doubted it would be enough to switch last year's majority for the Albanian resolution to seat Peking and expel Taiwan to a new majority for the U.S. plan for dual representation of both Chinas.

The final tally still appeared too close to predict with comfort.

Prime Minister Sato told a meeting of party leaders late yesterday that he would "persopnally shoulder responsibility" for a decision on the co-sponsorship issue for the sake of maintaining co-operation between Japan and the United States.

Sato reportedly argued that Japanese refusal to co-sponsor the two resolutions might jeopardize ratification by the U.S. Congress of the agreement returning Okinawa to Japan. Informed sources said some party leaders oppposed to co-sponsorship agreed to let Sato decide the latter issue rather than risk taking the blame for an Okinawan setback.

Foreign Minister Takeo Fukuda, a leading candidate to succeed Sato and widely regarded as the premier's favorite in the line of succession race, has backed away fron his long-time pro-Taiwan stand in recent weeks, stressing the need for preserving party unity.

Political observers predicted a bitter intra-party reaction to the Sato move, but it was unclear whether Fukuda would suffer from his identification with Sato and how much the co-sponsorship decision would accelerate party pressures for the replacement of the premier.

Intra-party opposition to co-sponsorship has been aggravated by a mood of resentment toward the United States in the wake of President Nixon's new economic measures. Governmnet sources said Fukuda told Rogers it would be politically "very difficult" to stand by the United States on the co-sponsorship issue at a time when the United States is refusing to compromise with Japan on economic disputes by specifiying a timetable for removal of the 10 per cent import surcharge.