Hillary gets no commitment from Japan

[Silent observer]

Japan on ending air base row

Thursday, January 14, 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.



It is very interesting to see Japan, which was defeated by US in WWII, taken the blow of atomic bomb twice and moreover a strong ally of US in this region, is refusing to its own comitment made to US for the shifting of US army base.

comments guys

regards

 

[SinoIndusFriendship]

Ha ha, damn right. Human beings have their basic dignity and rights, it's about time they treated us yellow-skinned people as EQUALS!

 

[Silent observer]

Ha ha, damn right. Human beings have their basic dignity and rights, it's about time they treated us yellow-skinned people as EQUALS!

yes you are right. there was a comittment made by the prime ministerthat this base would be shifted and joined with another base in some other location of okinawa but now the same prime minister due to the pressure by his own party and cabinet has to change his mind. this is a big blow to the US and more interestingly, some ministers also demanding to shift this base out side japan main islands.

regards

 

[Evil Flare]

why Japan allow US Marines in their homeland

Time is over now

WW2 is long gone .. Japanese must kicked out all American Military Personals from their Land ..

Its like Occupying Force

 

[Silent observer]

why Japan allow US Marines in their homeland

Time is over now

WW2 is long gone .. Japanese must kicked out all American Military Personals from their Land ..

Its like Occupying Force

some brief history about okinawa after japan s losing of WWII. it will help to understand the situation better.

On August 15,1945 (after WWII) Japan signed the Potsdam Declaration, ending World War Two after fighting for fifteen years. The Allied forces occupied Japan and the Nansei Islands were put under U.S. military rule.

In 1951 the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the U.S. Japan Security Treaty were concluded and Japan regained independence, but the islands of Okinawa remained under the authority of the U.S. Government. As Japan joined the other nations of the West, Okinawa became a stronghold in the fight against the communists of China, North Korea, and the Soviet Union.

With the international situation such as it was, the bases on Okinawa underwent full-scale strengthening. In 1953 The U.S. Civil Administration began land expropriations in support of the strengthening of the bases. The Okinawan resistance to the land requisitions was strong, igniting an "island-wide struggle" whose momentum continued to gather steam under the "Reversion Movement."

In 1965 Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato visited Okinawa and began to press for the return of Okinawa to Japan. Okinawa's reversion to Japan was realized on May15, 1972. there is a conspiracy also attached with return of okinawa to japan and that is that japan has paid a big amount of money to US get okinawa back. due to cold war era, US one one hand can not lose okinawa due to its strategic importance and on the other hand wanted money to support the on going race of super power ship. may be this has led US to return okinawa back to japan (after taking money) with a deal of keeping the US force bases at okinawa.

these islands are close to China and Taiwan, the United States has large military bases on the island. The area of 14 US bases are 233 square kilometres (90 sq mi), occupying 18% of the main island. Okinawa accounts for less than one percent of Japan's land, but hosts about two-thirds of the 40,000 American forces in the country. Two major bases, Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and Kadena Air Base are located near residential areas. One third (9,852 acres) of the land used by the U.S. military is the Marine Corps Northern Training Area in the north of the island.

According to a 2007 Okinawa Times poll, 85% of Okinawans oppose the presence of the U.S. military due to noise pollution from military drills, aircraft accidents, such as one in 1959 which killed 17 people, and environmental degradation, and crimes committed by U.S. military personnel. The Okinawan prefectural government and local municipalities have made various withdrawal demands of the US military since the end of WWII, but no fundamental solution has ever been undertaken by either the Japanese or U.S. governments.