Japan considers revision of a deal with the US to relocate a military base to be a top diplomatic priority, Tokyo's newly appointed foreign minister has told the Financial Times, waving aside concerns that reopening the agreement could undermine the alliance between the countries.
The declaration by Katsuya Okada, a senior member of Japan's ruling Democratic party (DPJ), highlights the international implications of the party’s determination to set a more independent diplomatic agenda.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Okada seeks to redefine Japan-US relations - Sep-17
Transcript: Katsuya Okada FT interview - Sep-17
Bank of Japan upgrades view on economy - Sep-17
JAL turnround plan to be reviewed - Sep-16
In depth: Japan elections - Jul-24
In his first interview after the creation of the new DPJ government on Wednesday, Mr Okada on Thursday stressed the importance of Japan’s half-century alliance with the US and his willingness to widen and deepen the relationship.
However, he insisted that there must be "serious discussions" on revision of the 13-year-old plan to relocate the US Futenma marine air base within Okinawa to lighten the burden on residents of the southern Japanese island of hosting US forces.
"It is necessary for Japan and the US to engage in discussions on this issue, making sure that there is a very high priority placed on it," said Mr Okada, who considers Japan's foreign policy under the long-ruling Liberal Democratic party to have been "excessively dependent" on the US.
The agreement was intended to ease the burden imposed by US forces on Okinawa by moving the Futenma air station, which is located in the heart of a residential area, to a coastal site. At the same time about 8,000 of the 15,000 marines on Okinawa would move to the US island of Guam to new, Japanese-funded facilities.
However, the deal has been fiercely opposed in Okinawa because of the environmental and social impact of the new base and because it leaves the bulk of the US military presence in place on the small and densely populated island.
On the day of the government's creation, the new foreign minister sent supporters an e-mail saying the Futenma base relocation was an issue that "must be resolved within 100 days".
"I said 100 days because the talks have been much advanced and it is not possible for us to postpone solution forever," said Mr Okada.
However, the foreign minister declined to give details of how the relocation plan might change. US officials have stressed the importance of sticking to the current plan, which is part of a complex and expensive realignment of US forces.
"The [realignment] road map is not a menu from which either side can pick and choose what it wants to implement," Lt Gen Edward Rice, the top US commander in Japan, said in July, adding that the deal should be "fully implemented".
Mr Okada's choice of the base relocation as a priority will make it a test case for how well policymakers on both sides of the Pacific can adjust to new political realities following the fall of the LDP, which ruled Japan for almost all of the last 54 years.
Some analysts in Washington have suggested that bickering over the Futenma base could become a lightning rod for the tensions likely to be created by DPJ efforts to forge a more assertive foreign policy.
The issue now appears likely to feature in talks between Japanese leaders and Kurt Campbell, US assistant secretary of state for east Asian affairs, who arrived in Tokyo on Thursday, and in a planned meeting between Yukio Hatoyama, Japan's new prime minister, and Barack Obama, US president, in the US next week.
BY; AMIT KUMAR SINGH
PGDM IIIrd Sem