Aug 27 06:30 PM US/EasternWASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (AP) - (Kyodo) — The United States hopes to work with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's new Cabinet inaugurated Monday, a State Department spokesman said.
"We've had a very successful and positive working relationship with Prime Minister Abe and his first government," Tom Casey said in a news briefing. "We look forward to working with his new team."
Abe launched a new Cabinet Monday, naming veteran lawmakers as key ministers in a shuffle of his 11-month-old Cabinet. He also revamped his party leadership, in hopes of reviving his embattled administration after July's House of Councillors election defeat for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Casey expressed hope Tokyo will extend a law allowing its Maritime Self-Defense Force to continue refueling U.S.-led coalition forces in the Indian Ocean in support of the antiterrorism drive in Afghanistan.
"We'd certainly like to see that support continue," he said, adding, "But these are individual decisions for the Japanese government and for other governments to make."
The legislation was enacted following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. The two-year law has been extended three times to allow Japan to send MSDF vessels to the Indian Ocean to provide fuel to multinational forces in antiterrorism operations in Afghanistan.
Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the No. 1 opposition Democratic Party of Japan, has said his party will oppose the extension of the law. The DPJ became the largest force in the upper house due to the July election. The House of Representatives is controlled by the coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito party.
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