Text Fwd: Gates, ministers agree on deepening alliance

* Text from Corazon Valdez Fabros on Jan. 14, 2011

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Gates, ministers agree on deepening alliance
Jan. 14, 2011


Prime Minister Naoto Kan and other Japanese leaders agreed Thursday with visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates that the two countries will work together to deepen their alliance.

Gates met separately with Kan, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara in the morning.

Given the increasingly uncertain situation on the Korean Peninsula as a result of North Korea's nuclear development program and its shelling of a South Korean island, they also reaffirmed the significance of U.S. forces' presence in the Asia-Pacific region and of defense cooperation between Japan, South Korea and the United States.

In addition, they agreed to work to strengthen the bilateral alliance by the time Kan is scheduled to visit the United States in spring.

"We'd like to make progress toward deepening the Japan-U.S. alliance," Kan told Gates at the start of their meeting at the Prime Minister's Office.

In response, Gates said he was looking forward to discussing what must be done to further solidify the two countries' ties.

In the meetings between Gates and the Japanese ministers, the two countries confirmed their policy of promoting the Japan-U.S. agreement in May over the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture.

However, when it came to reducing the burden on Okinawa Prefecture of hosting U.S. military facilities, Gates stopped short of making any pledges.

When Maehara sought U.S. cooperation in resolving the issue, Gates replied that the matter was closely linked with the relocation of Futenma and that steps would be taken in line with progress on that point, according to government officials.

As a specific measure to reduce the burden on Okinawa, Kitazawa asked Gates to promote negotiations on a plan to move some training functions of F-15 fighters stationed at Kadena Air Base in the prefecture to the U.S. territory of Guam, the officials said.

After their meeting, Kitazawa and Gates held a joint press conference at the Defense Ministry, in which Gates indicated the United States would observe the development of negotiations between the central government and the Okinawa prefectural government.

They said the two countries had agreed on the importance of enhancing cooperation between Japan, South Korea and the United States in dealing with North Korea.

Gates sought cooperation from Japan on the provision to third countries of the Standard Missile-3 Block 2A, a next-generation sea-based missile interceptor jointly developed by Japan and the United States.

"It makes economic sense to make it available to others," Gates said.

Kitazawa said the government hopes to make a decision by the end of the year.