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Obama promises to strengthen US-Japan relations
2009-02-24
WASHINGTON - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso came to the White House looking for reassurance from President Barack Obama about the importance of the U.S.-Japanese alliance in Asia. He got that, but not much more, during a 24-hour Washington visit that included an 80-minute private talk Tuesday with Obama. Aso, who is struggling to stay in power, came on the same day that Obama was making his first major address to a joint session of Congress to press a series of politically sensitive economic initiatives. The two leaders talked about North Korean nuclear and missile ambitions, Afghanistan, climate change and the global economic crisis. For Japan, the most crucial part of the visit may have come in a brief exchange in front of reporters before the leaders started their meeting. Obama described U.S.-Japan ties as the cornerstone of U.S. security policy in East Asia and said Aso's invitation as the first foreign leader to visit his White House was "a testimony to the strong partnership between the United States and Japan." Aso, of late, has faced single-digit approval ratings at home, appeals from his own party to resign and the worst Japanese recession in 50 years. His government reached a low point last week when his finance minister stepped down after appearing to be drunk during a world finance ministers' meeting. But the new U.S. administration is interested less in giving Aso a boost than in sending a message, to Tokyo and to the world, that Japan, a sometimes-neglected ally, remains a vital partner in addressing global economic and security crises. Japan trails only China as the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury bonds, holdings that help finance the ever-growing U.S. budget deficit. Japan also is the linchpin of U.S. security efforts in Asia, hosting about 50,000 U.S. military personnel and working with the United States and three other countries to press an increasingly hostile North Korea to give up its nuclear bombs. Washington's invitation to Aso was a broad signal "to the Japanese political establishment that the Obama administration is going to work with whoever is there," said Michael Auslin, a Japan specialist with the American Enterprise Institute think tank. "If we continue to wait for the next Koizumi, the next strong leader, we're going to be waiting forever," Auslin said. Since popular former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi left office in 2006, he has been followed by a series of ineffectual leaders. Aso, in his meeting with Obama, proposed the creation of a new framework for a U.S.-Japan dialogue to address global economic issues, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said. Details must still be worked out by lower-level officials. The Foreign Ministry also said that Aso intends to name Motohide Yoshikawa, the Japanese ambassador to Spain, as a special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that Yoshikawa would visit his U.S. counterpart, Richard Holbrooke, in March to talk about ways to coordinate policy on the region. The White House said the leaders pledged to work closely through the six-nation negotiations to eliminate North Korea's nuclear program, to deal with a possible North Korean missile launch and to address the fate of Japanese citizens kidnapped by the North Koreans in the 1970s and '80s. Japan has been looking for U.S. reassurance about its place as the top U.S. ally in Asia. Some in Tokyo worry about increasing U.S. cooperation with, and dependence on, China on a host of diplomatic, economic and military matters.
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