WASHINGTON, July 22 1999 KyodoU.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen will discuss Okinawa, security issues in East Asia and Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines during his forthcoming trip to Japan, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday.
Cohen will tell Japanese leaders of the importance of reaffirming the U.S. security commitment to Japan, said the official, who announced the itinerary of Cohen's weeklong trip to Asia from next Sunday.
The trip will also include visits to South Korea, Ukraine and Georgia.
During his stay in Tokyo from Monday, Cohen will meet with Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka as well as the heads of the Defense Agency and the Foreign Ministry, the Pentagon official said.
He will also meet with Japanese lawmakers involved in the Diet passage of the guidelines for expanded Japan-U.S. defense cooperation, said the official, who declined to be named.
In Tokyo, Japanese Foreign Ministry officials said Cohen is scheduled to meet with Obuchi and Defense Agency Director General Hosei Norota during his three-day visit to Japan.
The talks are expected to focus on the North Korean situation at a time when Pyongyang is suspected of planning to launch a ballistic missile, the officials said.
On the relocation of Futemma air base in the southernmost Japanese prefecture of Okinawa, Cohen will assure his hosts that the U.S. will continue to take steps to ease the burden of U.S. forces on local Japanese communities, the U.S. official said.
"Most pressing, of course, are our outstanding commitments that we've made in the so-called SACO process," the Pentagon official said.
Under the 1996 Special Action Committee on Okinawa (SACO) accord, the U.S. Marine Corps Futemma Air Station in Ginowan, central Okinawa, is to be returned to Japan within five to seven years on condition that its heliport functions are relocated.
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