Taft–Katsura agreement

The Taft–Katsura Agreement (Japanese: 桂・タフト協定 Katsura-Tafuto Kyōtei) was a set of notes taken during conversations between United States Secretary of War William Howard Taft and Prime Minister of Japan Katsura Tarō on 29 July 1905. The notes were discovered in 1924; there was never a signed agreement or secret treaty, only a memorandum of a conversation regarding Japanese-American relations.

Some Korean historians have assumed that, in the discussions, the United States recognized Japan's sphere of influence in Korea; in exchange, Japan recognized the United States's sphere of influence in the Philippines. However, American historians examining official records report no agreement was ever made—the two men discussed current events but came to no new policy or agreement. They both restated the well-known official policies of their own governments. Indeed, Taft was very careful to indicate these were his private opinions and he was not an official representative of the U.S. government (Taft was Secretary of War, not Secretary of State).

Details

The Taft–Katsura Memorandum (also commonly called the Taft–Katsura Agreement) consists of the meeting notes containing portions of a long, confidential conversation between Japanese Prime Minister Katsura and US Secretary of War Taft, held in Tokyo on the morning of 27 July 1905. The memorandum detailing these discussions was dated 29 July 1905.

Three significant issues were discussed during the meeting:

• First were Katsura's views on peace in East Asia, which according to him formed the fundamental principle of Japan's foreign policy and was best accomplished by a good understanding between Japan, the United States, and Great Britain.

• The second issue concerned the Philippines. On this, Taft observed that it was in Japan's best interests to have the Philippines governed by a strong and friendly nation like the United States; Katsura claimed that Japan had no aggressive designs on the Philippines.

• Finally, regarding Korea, Katsura observed that Japanese colonization of Korea was a matter of absolute importance, as he considered Korea to have been a direct cause of the just-concluded Russo-Japanese War. Katsura stated that a comprehensive solution of the Korea problem would be the war's logical outcome. Katsura further stated that if left alone, Korea would continue to improvidently enter into agreements and treaties with other powers, which he said created the original problem. Therefore, Katsura stated that Japan must take steps to prevent Korea from again creating conditions which would force Japan into fighting another foreign war.

For his part, Taft concurred that the establishment of a Japanese protectorate over Korea would directly contribute to stability in East Asia. Taft also expressed his belief that President Roosevelt would concur in his views in this regard.

Korean reaction

Some Korean historians (e.g., Ki-baik Lee, author of A New History of Korea, (Harvard U. Press, 1984) believe that the Taft–Katsura Agreement violated the "Korean–American Treaty of Amity and Commerce" signed at Incheon on May 22, 1882 because the Joseon Government considered that treaty constituted a de facto mutual defense treaty while the Americans did not. The Joseon Dynasty, however, ended in 1897. In recent years, while the Taft–Katsura Agreement is all but an obscure footnote in history, the Agreement is attacked by some left-leaning Korean activists as an example of how the United States cannot be trusted with regards to Korean security and sovereignty issues.

See also

• List of Korea-related topics
• History of Korea
• Korean Empire
• Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905
• Hague Secret Emissary Affair

Bibliography

• Esthus, Raymond A. "The Taft-Katsura Agreement--Reality or Myth?" Journal of Modern History, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Mar., 1959), pp. 46–51 in JSTOR