Hatoyama, Obama agree Japan-U.S. alliance remains linchpin

Sep 23 10:43 AM US/Eastern

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 (AP) - (Kyodo) — New Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed Wednesday that the Japan-U.S. alliance is the basis of the two nations' security and economy.

"The Japan-U.S. alliance remains the foundation of Japan's security policy," Hatoyama told reporters after their talks in New York, which he is visiting to attend U.N. meetings.

In their 25-minute meeting, the two leaders also agreed to work closely on issues related to North Korea, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The summit talks came after Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, who is also in the United States, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday reaffirmed the importance of the Japan-U.S. alliance.

Hatoyama, president of the Democratic Party of Japan who took office just a week ago, and Obama also agreed to cooperate on efforts to tackle global warming and nuclear non-proliferation.

But it was not immediately clear how far Hatoyama went during the talks on his new government's plans to review the realignment of U.S. forces stationed in Japan, which was agreed on in 2006 between the then Japanese government led by the Liberal Democratic Party and Washington.

Hatoyama has said he would rather seek to relocate the U.S. Marines' Futemma Air Station outside Japan's southernmost Okinawa Prefecture to reduce the burden among local residents, despite the agreement on the transfer of the facility within the prefecture.

In talks with Okada, Clinton was quoted as saying that Washington sees the 2006 agreement as the basis for the planned realignment, but also expressed Washington's readiness to continue negotiations on that matter.

Hatoyama has said he will focus on building bilateral relations of trust on his first diplomatic trip as prime minister, suggesting that he may not touch on potentially contentious issues including the realignment and Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean.

The DPJ has indicated that it may end the dispatch of the Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels on the mission designed to support the U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan, a move that Washington fears could affect the agreements with other allies.

The issue will likely be put on the table when Obama meets with Hatoyama again during his visit to Japan, expected in November.