HC Deb 23 February 1995 vol 255 c281W
Mr. Thurnham

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what support has been given to the far eastern prisoners of war and civilian internees who are seeking compensation from the Japanese Government.

Mr. Goodlad

The Government have the deepest respect for all those who suffered as prisoners of the Japanese during world war two, and the greatest sympathy for their families.

The question of compensation was legally settled, in the Government's view, by the San Francisco peace treaty of 1951, and we are precluded from raising it formally with the Japanese Government.

British Ministers have drawn the attention of their Japanese counterparts to the strong feelings which the treatment of the prisoners continues to arouse in this country. When the Prime Minister visited Japan in September 1993, he discussed the matter with the then Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Hosokawa, and Mr. Hosokawa expressed his deep remorse as well as apologies for the fact that Japanese past actions had inflicted deep wounds on many people including former prisoners of war".

The Prime Minister informed Mr. Hoskawa that we were examining whether non-governmental measures would assist in solving this problem. Mr. Hosokawa agreed this approach was worth examining.

The British Government then brought together a small group, led by Sir Kit McMahon, to develop one such proposal—for a foundation financed by the private sector which could provide practical help to former prisoners. Last November, however, after Sir Kit had visited Tokyo to sound out the reactions of the Japanese private sector, it became clear that this approach was unlikely to succeed in present circumstances.

At the end of August, the present Japanese Prime Minister, Mr. Murayama, announced a £650 million initiative involving exchange visits and historical research. The United Kingdom is one of the countries included in this scheme.

We have not given up. The Prime Minister wrote to Mr. Murayama about these matters at the end of the last year. We are continuing regular discussions with the Japanese Government.

Our embassy helped the FEPOWs who recently visited Japan to meet a representative of the Japanese Government and to pay tribute to their fallen comrades at the commonwealth war graves cemetery.