US wants 'good start' with new Japan government

(AFP) – 4 hours ago

NEW YORK — Washington aims to get off to a "good start" with the new Tokyo government, an official said Monday ahead of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's talks with her Japanese counterpart Katsuya Okada.

The United States wants "to underscore how important it is for us to get off to a good start in the US-Japanese relationship," said Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs.

Campbell returned from talks with the new Japanese government on Sunday saying the United States had promised to listen to how Tokyo now intends to undertake a review in the relationship.

"We told our Japanese friends how we're going to conduct our business in public. We are going to be very clear about how important it is to respect each other as equals," he said.

"The United States intends to underscore its support of a strong and independent Japanese foreign policy."

But he added that in private the US administration would "underscore areas where we think continuity on policy is important."

US President Barack Obama will meet with new Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama for the first time on Wednesday on the sidelines of the UN general assembly.

Hatoyama was sworn in as prime minister last week after his center-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won the country's elections by a landslide.

The DPJ's victory ended more than half a century of almost unbroken rule by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and party leaders have already signaled they want a "more equal" relationship with the United States.

The new coalition government sworn in Wednesday is seeking to strike a balance between the demands of some of its own left-leaning and pacifist members, and the desire to maintain the traditionally strong US alliance.

The DPJ has also said it would not renew a naval refueling mission that supports US-led operations in Afghanistan when it expires in January.

Foreign Minister Okada hinted Sunday that Japan could offer more development aid to Afghanistan in place of the naval support mission.

"If Japan can generate the situation where Taliban soldiers on the frontline would be able to feed their family members and offer education, then the situation in Afghanistan will change," he said.

"There is a significant number of people who work for Taliban to earn money."