July 24, 2009The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has backed down from its policy of drastically revising the Japan-U.S. Status-of-Forces Agreement, instead opting to "propose revisions."
The softened stance was included in the party's 2009 policy list, which will form the basis for its manifesto in next month's House of Representatives election. It is a marked shift from last year's list, in which the party supported going ahead with "drastic revisions" to the agreement.
At the beginning of a section on foreign affairs and defense, the policy list stated that the party would "establish proactive foreign policy strategies and make Japan's claims clear," and "conduct open dialogue and build an equal partnership" as it established a new era of the Japan-U.S. alliance. It added that the party would "propose revisions to the Japan-U.S. Status-of-Forces Agreement, and continue to proceed with reviews of such issues as the realignment of U.S. troops, and the status of U.S. military bases in Japan."
In April 2008, the DPJ proposed revisions to the status-of-forces agreement together with the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party in response to frequent crimes caused by U.S. servicemen in Okinawa, and requested that the government put it into effect. Three months later, it compiled a "party vision for Okinawa," stating that "drastic revisions" to the status-of-forces agreement would be implemented urgently.
However, when speaking to reporters in the Gunma Prefecture city of Ota on Thursday, DPJ Secretary-General Katsuya Okada said, "There are various problems and other issues with the status-of-forces agreement, but we will not lay them all on the table and raise questions."
Okada indicated that once the DPJ took power, the party would focus on building a relationship between the leaders of Japan and the United States, rather than immediately diving into negotiations on pending issues relating to the agreement.
"First we will have prime minister (Yukio) Hatoyama build a relationship of trust with U.S. President (Barack) Obama," he said.
The policy list paid attention to Okinawa. It stated that Okinawa would be used as a model prefecture in the move from subsidies with strings attached to lump subsidies under the system of local power that Hatoyama has promoted.
Cities, towns and villages in Okinawa, where U.S. bases are prominent, have made deep-rooted requests that they be given grants that can be freely used rather than subsidies that have been earmarked for use relating to bases, and it is believed that the DPJ took such requests into consideration in its policy list.
(Mainichi Japan) July 24, 2009
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