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Hillary gets no commitment from

Posted on: Wed January 13, 2010

HONOLULU, Hawaii: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed her Japanese counterpart here Tuesday to stick by a deal on moving a controversial US air base, but got no commitment from Tokyo during the meeting.At hastily-arranged talks with Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada in Honolulu, Clinton said she had stressed the need to resolve the fate of the Futenma base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.    But she also expressed confidence the row would be resolved, saying Tokyo understands that the 50-year-old alliance with Washington is fundamental to the future of both Japan and the region. The meeting with Okada was added to the beginning of an Asia tour by Clinton amid growing concerns of a rift between Washington and the new centre-left coalition government in Tokyo, which includes elements opposed to the presence of the US base on Okinawa. I have stressed again today ... that it is important to move on Futenma, Clinton said at a press conference with Okada in the garden of a luxury hotel on the Pacific Ocean. She reiterated the US view that a 2006 base deal known as the realignment road map is the way forward . The accord was to move the base from an urban area on the island of Okinawa to a coastal region. Okada said the government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama would decide by May where to relocate the base, even if the decision risks breaking up his coalition. The government is considering alternative sites for the base, with various options including moving it off Okinawa altogether.The 2006 accord was part of a broader realignment of US forces in Japan and includes the redeployment of around 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam.Soon after coming to power, Hatoyama s centre-left government announced a review of the agreement, provoking irritation in Washington, which has long guaranteed security for Japan. Hatoyama s junior partners in government, the Social Democrats, have threatened to quit the coalition if it agrees to the original relocation plan.    The United States, which defeated Japan in World War II and then occupied the country, now has 47,000 troops stationed there, more than half of them on Okinawa, the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Clinton said the US view is that 2006 agreement offers the best solution for both the security of Japan and the residents of Okinawa. We want to get a decision by May because much of the rest of the work around the realignment roadmap has already proceeded, the chief US diplomat said.

Courtesy : The News