Satoshi Ogawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the unusual move of asking the Japanese ambassador for a face-to-face meeting Monday at the State Department, where she reiterated the U.S. stance that the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture be implemented in line with a bilateral agreement signed in 2006.
Ichiro Fujisaki said at a press conference after the meeting that it was hastily arranged just hours after Clinton requested it.
Ambassador Fujisaki added that it was highly unusual for the top U.S. diplomat to ask the top Japanese envoy to appear in person over a pending bilateral problem.
"This is a thing that rarely occurs, and I think we should take this [Clinton's action] into account," the ambassador said.
Fujisaki refused to discuss specifics about the meeting, only saying, "I can't talk about it before reporting to the prime minister, foreign minister and other Japanese leaders."
The ambassador, however, quoted Clinton as telling him she wished to reiterate her stance over the Futenma issue.
It is widely believed that Clinton told Fujisaki of the U.S. desire that the Japanese government relocate without delay Futenma's airfield functions in Ginowan to a coastal area adjacent to the marine corps' Camp Schwab in the northern part of the prefecture.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama met with Clinton on Thursday on the sidelines of the U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen.
In that meeting, Hatoyama told Clinton that he wanted Washington to understand Tokyo's desire to put on hold its decision over the relocation until after the new year.
Hatoyama said to reporters Friday that he had obtained from Clinton "full understanding" on the Japanese position.
Sources said that there is no doubt that in her meeting with Fujisaki, Clinton told the ambassador that the United States does not approve of Hatoyama's explanation presented in Copenhagen about Tokyo's delay.
(Dec. 23, 2009)
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