WASHINGTON, July 31 KYODOThe House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution lauding Japan as a vital ally of the United States and thanking Tokyo for its role in the global fight against terrorism.
The action came a day after the full House passed a measure demanding an apology from Japan over its military's sexual enslavement of young women in Asia during World War II, despite Tokyo's warnings that it would harm otherwise sound Japan-U.S. relations.
The latest resolution, authored by Republican Rep. Jim Saxton from New Jersey and cosponsored by 36 lawmakers, says the lower chamber ''recognizes that Japan is one of the most reliable security partners of the United States.''
It also says the House ''commends the government of Japan for its role in enhancing stability in the Asia-Pacific region'' and ''expresses appreciation to the government of Japan for its contributions to international efforts to combat terrorism.''
The cosponsors include Democratic Rep. Michael Honda from California, a Japanese-American who spearheaded the nonbinding resolution on the so-called ''comfort women'' who were forced into sexual servitude during the war.
It remains to be seen, however, whether the latest resolution can absorb detrimental effects the comfort women measure would have on a Japan-U.S. alliance.
''It will not have a good effect,'' Michael Green, former senior director for Asian affairs on the White House National Security Council, said of the comfort women resolution.
He said during a symposium on Tuesday that the resolution's passage will make it difficult for Tokyo to maintain its close cooperation with the United States in security areas through such efforts as extending the antiterrorism law that expires on Nov. 1.
The legislation was enacted following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks against the United States. The two-year law has been extended three times to allow Japan to send Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels to the Indian Ocean to provide refueling services to multinational forces in anti-terrorism operations there.
On the comfort women resolution, Japanese Ambassador to the United States Ryozo Kato had warned that the passage of what he calls a factually unfounded measure would damage otherwise healthy Japan-U.S. ties.
In 1993, Tokyo acknowledged a state role in the wartime military brothel program and offered a formal apology to the victims over the matter. It set up the Asian Women's Fund later that provided payments of about $20,000 to 285 women from the private donations it collected.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has offered an apology for the women's suffering. He has also repeated that he stands by 1993's official statement acknowledging and apologizing for the sex slavery.
Abe came under fire earlier this year when he appeared to doubt the Japanese military coerced women into brothels, lending intensified support for Honda's resolution.
==Kyodo [1511] Jul 31 05:22 PM US/Eastern
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