Sayonara! Obama's troops will be evicted by Hatoyama

[ejected.president]

http://news.ino.com/headlines/?newsid=102020091257

INO.com Headlines
Gates In Japan Discusses Military Ties
11 minutes ago
(RTTNews) - A month ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit to Japan, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Tokyo Tuesday to discuss key military ties between the allies.

During their meeting in the capital, both Gates and Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada stressed the importance of the security alliance, Japan's official news agency Kyodo reported.

Gates said the Obama administration is committed to implementing the agreement Tokyo and Washington signed in 2006 to relocate the controversial US Marine base on the island of Okinawa to a less heavily populated region on the west of the island to alleviate disturbances to the local residents.

"We in President Obama's administration understand what it is like to go through a transition period. And, as your government exercises its new responsibilities, I want you to know the United States stands with you and we are committed to advancing and implementing our agreed alliance transformation agenda," he told Okada, whose democratic party assumed power for the first time in the country's history just a month ago.

Gates said "The alliance between our countries remains the cornerstone of US security policy."

He is scheduled to meet his Japanese counterpart Toshimi Kitazawa and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama Wednesday.

In an explicit change of foreign policy, the government headed by Hatoyama decided last week not to renew mandate for the Maritime Self-Defense Force's ship-refueling operations in the Indian Ocean.

In a set back to US-led anti-terrorism operations in and around Afghanistan, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa reaffirmed that Japan would pull out its two naval ships deployed in the Indian Ocean under the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) special law, which expires on January 15.

Instead, Japan will formulate alternative support plan for Afghanistan.

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[ejected.president]

http://www.news24.com/Content/World/News/1073/a0772179d04d4ac092f7109f7c821366/20-10-2009 06-40/US,_Japan_argue_over_bases

US, Japan argue over bases
2009-10-20 18:40

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Tokyo - US leaders expect Japan's new government to stick with existing agreements between the two nations, America's top defence official said on Tuesday amid debate over whether to shut a US military air field on Okinawa. Japanese officials, however, signalled that they expect flexibility from the US.

Pentagon chief Robert Gates did not specifically mention the controversy over the Futenma base, a major US Marines hub, during brief public remarks with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada. But he made clear that the Obama administration would frown on any action by Tokyo to block a new runway at another base on Okinawa when Futenma is closed.

"As your government exercises its new responsibilities, I want you to know the United States stands with you," Gates told Okada at the start of their half-hour meeting in Tokyo. "And we are committed to advancing and implementing our agreed alliance transformation agenda."

Okada told Gates the administration of newly elected Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama would seek a "deeper and sustainable" relationship with the US. "Of course, we have a lot of challenges," Okada added.

At issue is the fate of the air field following Hatoyama's election in September. Hatoyama told reporters on Monday night, "We will choose an appropriate time to come to a conclusion after thoroughly reviewing the situation and process of the agreement."

Flexible

Hatoyama said he was well aware of the weight of the agreement between the two past governments. "But it is also important for both of us to be flexible."

Three years ago, US and Japanese officials agreed to shift 8 000 Marines in Okinawa to the US territory of Guam and to move the Futenma air field base to Camp Schwab, also on the southern Japanese island.

But some members of Hatoyama's government want all remaining US troops moved out of Japan altogether. Okinawa residents have complained that the military bases cause too much noise and crime.

A Japanese foreign ministry official in charge of Japan-US security alliance said Gates reiterated his stance on the Futenma base issue, saying the current plan is the only one that can be achieved and it should be implemented as soon as possible under the current agreement.

Okada responded that he is well aware of the importance of the agreement but asked Gates to understand the change of political environment in Japan. He said Japan also hoped to resolve the air station relocation issue as quickly as possible, but asked the US to understand difficulties in Okinawa. He did not mention any timeline to resolve the issue.

US officials hope to resolve the issue by the time President Barack Obama arrives in Japan early in November. Gates will meet with Hatoyama on Wednesday.

If the base were forced to move, Gates suggested that the entire deal to relocate troops to Guam might fall through. "It's hard for me to believe that the Congress would support going forward in Guam without real progress with respect to the Futenma replacement facility," he told reporters aboard his military jet on the way to Japan.

Military ally

He said that other, unidentified locations for the air field that were reviewed by the US and Japanese governments were either politically or operationally impossible.

Gates said he had no problem with Hatoyama's decision to review the agreement, and cited "some flexibility" in terms of where, precisely, a new runway might be built at Camp Schwab. But ultimately, Gates said, the runway location is a matter for the local Okinawa government to decide with Tokyo.

The US is Japan's key military ally, and an estimated 50 000 American troops are deployed there.

Another issue - that of Japan withdrawing two of its naval ships from the Indian Ocean - tankers that have been used as refuelling pit stops for Afghanistan-bound allies - was also discussed.

Gates told Okada that Japan's naval refuelling mission in the Indian Ocean is a major support for the US coalition forces, though whether to continue the mission is Japan's decision. Gates urged Japan to continue providing "strong" support for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Okada repeated that Japan is not automatically extending the refuelling mission and that the government is currently considering several Afghan reconstruction projects in areas Japan can best use its resources. The ministry briefer, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to ministry policy, did not specify the projects that are under way.

- AP

Read more on: politics

 

[ejected.president]

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PREVIEW-US-Japan ties get early test ahead of Obama visit
18 Oct 2009 11:00:14 GMT
Source: Reuters
* U.S. defense secretary to visit Japan Oct. 20-21

* Early test of U.S. ties with new Japanese government

* U.S. to push plans on Japan troop rejig, Korean handover

By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - A trip by the U.S. defense secretary to Tokyo this week will offer an early test of ties with Japan's new government, which swept to power last month promising a more independent path from Washington.

The change of guard in Japan has raised uncertainty among investors watching the pivotal role of the U.S. alliance in a region that is also home to North Korea, an unpredictable and reclusive state that is pursuing a nuclear program.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, whose trip will include South Korea, will give assurances of Washington's "full-throated commitment" to defend allies in Asia from any threat from North Korea after its latest missile test, U.S. defense officials said.

But Gates is also expected to seek assurances during his visit on Tuesday and Wednesday that Japan's new government will honor past security accords, clearing away possible sources of friction before President Barack Obama's visit next month.

Those include a contentious agreement on rejigging U.S. forces in Japan, home to 48,000 U.S. troops.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama wants a Marine air base moved off Okinawa island -- an option U.S. officials rule out. They say it would undermine broader security arrangements long in the making.

"It's been in the works for 15 years. ... You start to pull on one thread and you run the risk of the whole thing unraveling," said one defense official, briefing journalists before the trip on the condition he not be named.

Washington also wants Japan to come forward with new forms of assistance to Afghanistan, if Tokyo follows through with plans to halt a naval refueling mission backing coalition forces, the official said.

"That contribution does not have to be a military one. In fact, a lot of the very valuable contributions in Afghanistan are on the development side and the training side," he said.

Japan's defense minister said on Tuesday that Tokyo would end its refueling mission in support of coalition operations in Afghanistan, but a top government spokesman said a decision had yet to be made.

Analysts expressed optimism that Tokyo and Washington would reaffirm their historically strong ties, despite a new government in Japan and a young administration in Washington.

"The Japanese will be reassuring him (Gates) that nothing much is going to change, even though they've made a lot of noise," said Phil Deans, professor of international affairs at Temple University's Tokyo campus.

SOUTH KOREA HANDOVER

After Japan, Gates heads to South Korea, where nearly 29,000 U.S. soldiers are stationed to help defend against North Korea, which fired five short-range missiles on Oct. 12.

The Pentagon called those tests "unhelpful and potentially destabilizing" and senior U.S. officials immediately traveled to Tokyo and then Seoul last week to assure allies the United States could defend them, officials said.

"North Korea is obviously trying to achieve break-out as a nuclear weapons state. We will never accept this," one official said.

Asked whether there were concerns that Asian allies might pursue their own nuclear programs to defend against North Korea, a U.S. official said the hope was that a strong U.S. commitment would steer them away from "the nuclear option."

Gates' trip to Seoul also comes amid a major restructuring of the U.S. military alliance with South Korea, forged during the 1950-53 Korean War. Seoul is set to take wartime control of its forces by 2012.

"We think it's a natural evolution of the alliance, that it's time now 60 years after the start of the Korean War," an official said.

Officials said Gates was set to confirm progress toward the handover.

"That will be one of the issues that will be discussed," he added. "And we fully expect that we will endorse the progress we've made and that we're on target for transfer in 2012."

South Korea's 650,000 troops face about 1.1 million in North Korea, which devotes the bulk of its resources to its military despite a struggling economy. (Additional reporting by Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo; Editing by Paul Eckert and John O'Callaghan)

 

[ejected.president]

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=109084&sectionid=351020406

Japan pledges flexibility on fate of US base
Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:55:57 GMT
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Japan's PM Yukio Hatoyama
The Japanese Prime Minister expressed his government's willingness to "be flexible" in determining the fate of the controversial US military base in Okinawa.

Yukio Hatoyama said on Monday that both Japan and the United States should maintain flexibility on the controversial issue and keep the window open for a compromise, AFP reports.

Hatoyama's conciliatory comments came a day before a visit by the US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to Tokyo on Tuesday.

In 2006, Washington and Tokyo agreed to relocate the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Base from Okinawa's urban areas to a nearby site by 2014.

Now, however, Hatoyama, echoing the same sentiments expressed by the people living on the southern island, wants the base moved out of the country altogether.

The residents of Okinawa are furious about the continuous buzzing of the US aircrafts that threatens lives with possible accidents.

Persisting crimes committed by US soldiers against the residents of the island throughout the years are another cause for the general discontent among the local community toward the US military presence.

Japan hosts about 50,000 American troops, with two-thirds of them stationed on Okinawa.

RB/MB

 

[longbow]

Might signal end of US economic and military power.

 

[obama.bin.laden]

might signal end of us economic and military power.

evidentially.

 

[fox_hound_33]

Lets see if the states and it's stooges resort to sanctions as 'punishment' for Japan.

 

[Whats4]

us should just simply close down all the bases and get out. y waste the $$ staying there when they are not simply welcome. lets see what happen if commie china and nk start flexing its military muscles.