Japan, U.S. opt to enhance alliance ties

www.chinaview.cn 2009-02-18 19:17:03

BEIJING, Feb. 18 -- The visit to Japan by Hillary Rodham Clinton, her first-ever overseas trip as the U.S. Secretary of State, can be cited as an "easygoing trip". During the trip, she wants Japan not to believe that new President Barack Obama will despise it as people in Japan have previously feared but to believe that the U.S. still attaches great importance to the U.S.-Japan alliance.

Hillary Clinton and Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone held a joint news conference at the end of their talks at the likura Guest House at noon Tuesday, Feb.17. At the conference, they voiced their consensuses to enhance the Japan-U.S. alliance and stay in contact and consultations via teleconferences and other channels or means.

The two sides had a very frank exchange of views on a host of international and regional issues, such as the global financial crisis, the War on Terror, the Afghan reconstruction and the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue. And they agreed to beef up their US-Japan alliance ties to cope with these issues.

Photo: Visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L, front) shakes hands with Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone (R,front) after signing a new pact in Tokyo, Japan, Feb. 17, 2009. Clinton and Nakasone signed a new pact Tuesday on the relocation of U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam, honoring the two allies' commitment to the 2006 road map on realigning U.S. forces in Japan.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and US President Barack Obama will mainly discuss the world economy and global financial issue in their incoming summit in Washington next Tuesday, Feb. 24, Hillary Clinton said while meeting with Prime Minister Taro Aso Tuesday evening. This is President Obama's first talks with a foreign leader at the White House since taking office, she stressed, "I really believe that the relationship between the United States and Japan is a cornerstone of our foreign policy."

According to an available schedule, as disclosed by a Japanese Foreign Ministry official, Prime Minister Taro Aso is due to leave for the U.S. on the evening of next Monday, Feb. 23, and to have a two-day stay in the U.S. before returning to Japan on the evening of Feb. 25.

Beside, both sides have confirmed in their talks their enhanced cooperation on the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The United States is expected to improve ties with DPRK if Pyongyang agrees to abandon its nuclear weapon program and its "nuke is abandoned verifiably", Hillary Clinton said.

At the end of their talks, Mrs. Clinton and Nakasone signed an agreement in Tokyo finalizing the transfer of 8,000 US Marines from the southern island of Okinawa to Guam by 2014, and this agreement was regarded as the outcome of the joint efforts to reinforce bilateral alliance ties. Under the agreement, Japan will provide 6.09 billion US dollars of the estimated 10.27 billion dollars needed for the relocation of U.S. Marines.

With the signing of the agreement, the Japanese government will accelerate the transfer of the US military's Futenma airfield within Ginowan City, Okinawa Prefecture, and the relocation of the Okinawa-based U.S. Marines is scheduled to be formally carried out within this year.

The talks between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada centered mainly on the act of piracy that Japanese government is studying or mulling over with an aim to deal with piracy off Somali waters. Hillary expressed the hope that foreign ships should also be listed as targets to be brought under the convoy by escorting vessels of Japan's Self-Defense Forces. For this point, Hamada made a positive response.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton urged Japan to take an active part in the U.N. peacekeeping missions. Defense Minister Hamada said Japan would conscientiously and seriously consider what it is capable of doing with regard to UN peacekeeping operations.

Moreover, Hillary Clinton also held talks with opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa, the head of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). Japanese Media regard this move of the U.S.' as the one to lay the groundwork for the "post-Aso era". In a lower house election due to be held in the autumn of 2009, DJP will possibly replace the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

In their talks, Hillary Clinton told Ichiro Ozawa that President Obama attaches great importance to U.S.-Japan ties whilst hearing from him his basic attitude toward the U.S. foreign policies on the U.S.-Japan alliance and other related issues. Ozawa, nevertheless, made clear that his Democratic Party will again have consultations with the American side on such issues as the relocation of U.S. Maries to Guam from Japan, if his party takes office. Anyway, acknowledge media in Japan, Hillary's talks with Ozawa is sure to exert an unfavorable impact on the Aso cabinet.

(Source: People's Daily)
Editor: Wang Guanqun