Japan Brief/FPCJ, No. 0969
November 17, 2009


Japan, US Leaders Agree to Start Deliberation Process
to Deepen Japan-US Alliance

On November 13 Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama held talks in Tokyo with US President Barack Obama, who was visiting Japan for the first time since he took office. In order to deepen the Japan-US alliance ahead of next year’s fiftieth anniversary of the revision of the Japan-US Security Treaty, the two leaders agreed to proceed with a new government-level deliberation process that will continue for one year. Regarding the pending issue of the relocation of the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Okinawa, which the two countries need to settle soon, Prime Minister Hatoyama and President Obama agreed to make efforts toward an early settlement through a ministerial-level working group.

After their meeting, Prime Minister Hatoyama and President Obama issued joint documents proclaiming Japan-US cooperation in three fields: environmental and energy technology, climate change, and nuclear disarmament. In the Japan-US Joint Message on Climate Change Negotiations, they stated that, as a long-term target, Japan and the United States aspire to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. In the Japan-US Joint Statement toward a World without Nuclear Weapons, they urged North Korea to return immediately to the six-party talks on its nuclear problem.

Main Content of Japan-US Summit Talks

According to newspaper reports, in his talks with President Obama, after describing the Japan-US alliance as the cornerstone of Japanese diplomacy, Prime Minister Hatoyama said that he wanted to strengthen Japan-US cooperation in tackling not only bilateral issues but also Asia-Pacific regional and global issues and to build a new alliance “that is even more constructive and future-oriented.” President Obama agreed on this point. As part of this approach, Prime Minister Hatoyama said that, with regard to security, he wanted to promote the strengthening of cooperation on new issues as well as the conventional fields of extended deterrence (the “nuclear umbrella”), the protection of information, missile defense, and space, that he wanted to strengthen cooperation in other areas as well, including disaster prevention, medicine and health, education, and the environment, and that he wanted to deepen the allied relationship. President Obama agreed on these points, too.

Amid growing opposition among the citizens of Okinawa prompted by noise pollution, the crash of a US military helicopter, and other factors, the Japanese and US governments agreed in 2006 that the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station, which is situated in a residential part of Ginowan City, should be relocated to the northern part of the prefecture. However, the situation has changed enormously following the landslide electoral victory of the Democratic Party of Japan, which advocates relocation outside Okinawa and even outside Japan, and the relocation problem has become a touchy issue between Japan and the United States. Prime Minister Hatoyama called for President Obama’s understanding of his administration’s review of the existing relocation plan. President Obama said that he wanted the ministerial-level working group to complete its work expeditiously.

On the problem of Afghanistan, Prime Minister Hatoyama explained that the Japanese government had decided on new support measures totaling up to $5 billion in civilian fields, including agricultural assistance and support for the Afghan police to strengthen public security. President Obama expressed his thanks for this support.

In a joint press conference held after the meeting, President Obama said (Yomiuri Shimbun, November 14), “The alliance between the United States and Japan is a foundation for security and prosperity . . . for the Asia-Pacific region.” He stressed that Japan and the United States are “equal partners.” And in reply to a question about the possibility of visiting Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he said, “I certainly would be honored, [and] it would be meaningful for me to visit these two cities in the future.”

National Newspaper Editorials

Japan’s five major national newspapers all carried editorials on the Japan-US summit in their November 14 editions.

The Yomiuri editorial called on Prime Minister Hatoyama again to carefully ponder the significance of the Japan-US alliance and settle the problem of the Futenma Air Station as quickly as possible. It remarked, “Hatoyama’s inability to quickly settle the Futenma base relocation issue has been the biggest destabilizing factor on bilateral ties. The two governments have agreed to set up a ministerial-level working group to intensively discuss this issue. But the working group should not be used as an excuse to keep kicking this can down the road.”

The Asahi Shimbun editorial gave high marks to the outcome of the summit, commenting, “For the Hatoyama administration led by his Democratic Party of Japan, the meeting was meaningful because Hatoyama and Obama confirmed two crucial points: (1) the fundamentals of Japan’s security and foreign policy are based on the alliance with the United States and (2) the two countries will continue to be trustworthy alliance partners in dealing with matters of global importance.” It went on, “. . . it is meaningful that a minister-level working group has been set up to review the existing agreement on the relocation of Futenma Air Station. This will allow Japan to discuss the issue with the United States backed by the public mandate given to the Hatoyama administration.”

The Mainichi Shimbun editorial opened, “The desire to strengthen the Japan-US alliance, which has contributed to the stability of the two countries and the Asia-Pacific region, meets the needs of the times, as it tackles the global-scale issues that the world is facing in the twenty-first century, such as the problems of global warming, energy, and nuclear proliferation. We praise the agreement of the two leaders on this matter.” It added, “We also praise the fact that the two leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation aiming at a world without nuclear weapons and to act together to combat global warming, and announced their agreements as joint documents.”

Regarding the problem of Futenma Air Station, The Nikkei editorial noted that following their meeting in New York in September, “For the second time in succession the leaders of Japan and the United States avoided facing up squarely to the security problem, which is the core of bilateral relations.” It went on, “For the Hatoyama administration, this might represent a breakaway from simply following in the footsteps of the United States, but an alliance means helping each other in a crisis. Rather than fancy words about ‘deepening the alliance,’ the important thing is concrete action.”

While remarking that “It is natural that the two leaders again confirmed the significance of the alliance, and that might be called the outcome of their meeting,” the Sankei Shimbun editorial similarly commented, “Since they were unable to settle the Futenma problem, the talks inevitably must be called an ‘orchestrated success’ and are bound to decrease the function of the alliance.” It added that Prime Minister Hatoyama “has a responsibility to come up with an early solution in the ministerial-level working group.”

(Copyright 2009 Foreign Press Center, Japan)

*Japan Brief is an original production of the Foreign Press Center, Japan, and does not represent the views of the Government of Japan or of any other body.



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