The Japanese Asahi Shimbun on May 7 said in an article titled "Secret Pacts on Nuclear Arms Disclosed. Concern Repeatedly Expressed about DPJ-led Government":

When the government led by the Democratic Party of Japan in March last year declassified the contents of the U.S.-Japan secret pacts on nuclear arms signed during the revision of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty in 1960, the U.S. side repeatedly expressed strong concern that it might affect the U.S. world strategy. This fact was known in the course of analyzing the diplomatic cable on Japan disclosed by WikiLeaks.

The secret pacts which allowed the port calls of the U.S. warships carrying nukes had been considered invalid as the U.S. forces suspended the transport of nuclear weapons by their vessels in 1991 after the demise of the Cold War era.

However, this diplomatic cable vividly reveals the ulterior intention of the U.S. side to steadily inherit "a tacit agreement" as it raised the possibility that there would be a policy change in the future. It is inevitable that it is bound to contradict the three non-nuclear principles of Japan banning the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japan.

According to the diplomatic cable to the U.S. State Department from the U.S. embassy in Tokyo on November 27, 2009, the issue of handling the secret pacts was discussed between the U.S. senior minister and Umemoto, director of the North American Affairs Department of the Foreign Ministry of Japan, at the U.S. embassy that day.

The senior minister said that it was an important element of the deterrence strategy to make nuke shipping ambiguous and Ambassador Roos is concerned about the direction of the investigation, he said, adding that this was not a simple internal matter but it is likely to affect the U.S. strategy in the light of its impact on a broader global scale.

Umemoto expressed understanding of the concern expressed by the U.S. side, saying that it is a troublesome problem and it would be more difficult than the Futenma issue. The present Hatoyama government seems not to understand the consequences to be entailed by the investigation into the secret pacts, he noted, underscoring the need to further the unofficial consultation between Japan and the U.S. over the issue of how to respond to the voices demanding a more explicit clarification of nuclear weapons.

According to a diplomatic message from Tokyo on February 4, 2010, two months later, the secret pacts became the topic of discussion during the talks held between Campbell, assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and others and Umemoto and others.

Campbell cited "extended deterrence" and "historical problems surrounding nukes" as the tasks facing Japan and the U.S., stressing the need to make it possible for the U.S. aircraft and warships to enter Japan irrespective of whether they carry nuclear weapons or not.

All facts go to prove that the U.S.-Japan secret pacts on nuclear arms were not a document valid only in the past but has remained in force for a long period.