Peter Alford, Tokyo correspondent | August 22, 2009
Article from: The Australian
WASHINGTON'S new man in Tokyo, John Roos, startled his hosts by presenting his credentials to Emperor Akihito on Thursday morning, having only flown in the previous afternoon, and then heading straight to the Foreign Ministry.
Vice foreign minister Mitoji Yabunaka hadn't been expecting Mr Roos to appear so soon.
Perhaps he was making a point; there were disappointed sighs in Tokyo at the nomination of the Californian lawyer, friend of and fund-raiser for Barack Obama but with no previous diplomatic or Japanese experience.
But he does have urgent work; keeping the US-Japan military alliance on a steady footing after the Liberal Democratic Party, a party which defines itself by the relationship, loses government next Sunday for only the second time in 54 years.
This might also explain why, according to a report this week, Mr Roos, 54, is to be joined in Tokyo by a special adviser, Suzanne Basalla, head of the Pentagon's Japan desk. The new Democratic Party of Japan government will have a different national security policy approach from those prevailing since the LDP came to government in 1955 and different, sometimes internally conflicting, views about vital current issues within the alliance.
Senior journalist and political consultant Takao Toshikawa warned this week that conflicts and confusion over the new government's policies could seriously disrupt Japan-US relations.
He blames the DPJ's recent leader, Ichiro Ozawa -- who resigned in April over a funding scandal -- for refusing to clarify the DPJ's intentions. Mr Ozawa, who organised the succession of protege Yukio Hatoyama, remains the most powerful man in the party and guiding spirit of its security policy, though he's said nothing publicly on this topic since February.
Long an annoyance to the Americans with his pungent opinions on the alliance and Japan's subservient role within it, Mr Ozawa fell silent after seeming to say that as long as the US 7th Fleet was home-ported at Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, there was no call for other US bases.
"Ask about specific issues only after we take power," he growled when clarification was sought. Though the DPJ's manifesto calls for a "close and equal alliance to serve as the foundation of Japan's foreign policy", Mr Hatoyama hasn't explained what that will mean in government.
"I believe that the relationship between the US and Japan might suffer as a result," said Toshikawa. "What is very anxiety inducing for me is that Mr Ozawa, who is the key person in all of this, has yet to state his positions on all these issues."
The DPJ opposes relocation of the US Marines' Futenma air base from the middle of Ginowan, in southern Hokkaido, to Camp Schwab to the north-east. This relocation agreed by the current government, but not yet signed-off, is key to the American bases reorganisation throughout Japan and eventual redeployment of 8000 Marines and their families to Guam.
Addressing anti-base protesters last month, Mr Hatoyama threw another spanner in the works by suggesting his government could seek to have Marine air wing relocated right out of Okinawa.
According to him and to Mr Ozawa's past statements, the DPJ also will not renew after January authorisation for the Japanese navy to refuel the US-led Indian Ocean fleet stationed to interdict terrorism support flowing into Afghanistan and Pakistan. The DPJ might also press for a comprehensive review of the Host Nation Support budget, under which Japan contributes about $US4 billion ($4.8bn) annually to maintenance of American bases, which are the foundation of country's entire national security posture.
The DPJ's election manifesto continues to call for revision of the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement which governs the legal treatment of American service people in Japan.
Tampering with SOFAs always sets bull necks bristling in the Pentagon but possibly more troubling for Washington's new man in Tokyo is that it is not clear to the Americans-- nor Japanese voters -- what are the DPJ's real intentions, or even if they have been settled.
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