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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Tokyo still resistant to Washington base deal |
| 2009-10-24 |
| The Japanese prime minister has once again expressed his country's reluctance to keep a military deal with Washington over the presence of US forces. "It's about how both sides avoid risks. That's what diplomacy is about," Premier Yukio Hatoyama told reporters on Friday. "There is no need to rush." In 2006, Washington and Japan's conservative party agreed a deal to reorganize US forces in the Asian country, but Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) ousted the conservatives, who had been in power for nearly half-century, in an August election. Under the proposed deal, the functions of the Futenma air base would be transferred to a remoter part of the southern island of Okinawa, while shifting 8,000 Marines from the island to the US territory of Guam, partly at Japan's expense. This is the Marine Corp helicopter base. It's on prime real estate in a now conjested area. Despite US disagreement, Hatoyama had said he wanted the base moved off the island, which lies 1,600 km (1,000 miles) from the Japanese mainland in the Pacific Ocean. Okinawa hosts more than half of the 47,000 American troops stationed in Japan. Their presence has often caused friction with the local community, especially when American servicemen have committed crimes. They mean American servicemen accused of rapes, some of which are true. The new center-left government in Tokyo has taken a more independent stance towards Washington. Hatoyama's decision over the dispute could affect voter support for his government, now riding high at about 70% in most polls. Earlier on Thursday, Japan's foreign minister reacted to remarks by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates pressing the Japanese government to proceed with the deal quickly. "I don't think we will act simply by accepting what the US tells us, just because the US is saying this, in such a short space of time," Katsuya Okada said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 TOPIX > JAPAN: NO BASE DECISION/DEAL UNTIL AFTER OBAMA VISIT. versus WMF > JAPAN: CHINA HAS DISCOVERED THE WEAKNESS OF US PACIFIC FORCES. CHIN recognizes it must (1) DEPLOY MORE SUBMARINES CAPABLE OF STRATEGIC STRIKE FROM CHIN = EAST ASIAN LITTORALS. + (2) PREEMPTIVE FIRST-USE OF BM NUCLEAR SATURATION STRIKES AGZ US PACIFIC AND CONUS TARGETS. A heavily damaged, but NOT destroyed, US DEFENSE would be hard pressed to stop FOLLOW-ON CHIN NUCLEAR + CONVENTIONAL STRIKES. ARTIC > Year 2020-2040 > CHIN must seek to de facto dominate the "SECOND ISLAND CHAIN", i.e. IZU IsLands, OGASAWAR Islands, GUAM, SAIPAN-CNMI, + PAPUA NEW GUINEA [PNG], + surounding lessor islands or areas. * SAME WMF > RUSSIAN DUMA APPROVES EXPANSION OF POWERS OF RUSSIAN PRESIDENCY TO USE MILITARY FORCE ABROAD. Not just CONVENTIONAL MIL = GROUND-TAC FORCES, but also NUCLEAR FORCE, IN DEFNSE OF RUSS INTERESTS + RUSS CITIZENS. ARTIC > also INCLUSIVE OF PREEMPTIVE STRIKE. * SAME MWF > AZERBAIJAN'S NEW MIL STRATEGY: TURN TOWARDS US-WEST WHILE ISOLATING RUSSIA IN THE CASPIAN REGION [four of ex-Russ States around Caspian are mostly MUSLIM]. "INTELLIGENCE VACUUM" in CASPIAN REGION may exist after expiration of RUSSO-AZERI Treatise [RussBases]in 2012. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-10-24 00:25 |