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Japan, U.S. vow to ‘deepen’ alliance on 50th anniv. of treaty signing

Japan and the United States proclaimed Tuesday that their alliance remains the anchor of regional stability and vowed to deepen cooperation including between the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and U.S. forces, as the day marked the 50th anniversary of the signing of their current security treaty.

While a deadlock over where to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa is casting a shadow over the alliance, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama stressed that U.S. nuclear deterrence continues to play a large role in ensuring the peace and stability of his nonnuclear country.

In a joint statement, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and their U.S. counterparts -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates -- pledged to build ''an unshakable Japan-U.S. alliance to adapt to the evolving environment of the 21st century.''

To that end, they vowed to intensify dialogue to ''further promote and deepen'' bilateral cooperation, including between the SDF and the U.S. military, in ''wide-ranging areas of common interest.''

The two allies effectively began discussions about deepening the alliance when Okada met with Clinton in Hawaii last week, with Tuesday's statement seen as the first result of that effort.

The two countries are aiming to release a final report during a planned meeting between Hatoyama and President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Yokohama in November.

In a separate statement, Hatoyama said his government will work jointly with the U.S. government to deepen security arrangements in a manner suitable for the current century, adding, ''I would like to present the people of Japan with the results of this work before the end of this year.''

Kitazawa told a press conference that the upcoming talks to deepen the alliance would likely involve how to respond to ''new factors'' in the regional security situation, such as the ''North Korean missile program and China's military expansion.''

The defense minister denied that the two countries would revise the text of the security treaty but said Tokyo would likely propose discussions on cutting ''wasteful spending'' in Japan's host nation support as the country faces economic difficulties.

Okada told a separate news conference that the Japanese ministers and their U.S. counterparts will meet in the first half of this year to advance negotiations to deepen the alliance.

Although the Futemma issue is weighing on bilateral relations, the foreign minister said he believes the two countries can proceed with discussions on the alliance by coming to a shared understanding of current security conditions. Hatoyama says his government will try to reach a final conclusion on the base relocation issue by May.

The joint statement remained abstract on the whole and avoided addressing the Futemma issue directly, saying only that the four place special importance on sustaining public support for the alliance.

The four, meanwhile, endorsed efforts to reduce the burden on the people of Okinawa and maintain U.S. deterrence, ''including appropriate stationing of U.S. forces.''

Kitazawa said the geopolitical importance of Okinawa has increased since the end of the Cold War with new threats posed by neighboring countries. The two countries should make efforts all the more to ease local base-hosting burdens, he added.

The four touted the current arrangements as the foundation for the security and prosperity of the two countries, expressing their commitment to ensuring the alliance's continued effectiveness in meeting new challenges in a changing security environment.

In East Asia, Japan and the United States will work to strengthen their ability to respond to contingencies that could threaten the security of Japan and peace in the surrounding region, they said.

In particular, the two countries are ''working closely together and cooperating with their partners'' through the six-nation talks to deal with North Korea's nuclear and missile programs and the abduction issue, they added.

They called for China to play a ''constructive and responsible role'' in the international community, while Tokyo and Washington work to improve their cooperation with Beijing.

The two countries will also cooperate closely in countering global threats by boosting efforts to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction and seek a world without nuclear weapons, they said.

In his statement, Hatoyama stressed the importance of the continued stationing of U.S. forces in Japan, saying, ''The presence of the U.S. forces based on the treaty will continue to function as a public good by creating a strong sense of security to the countries in the region.''

The current treaty, which was signed Jan. 19, 1960, and took effect June 23 that year, rectified ''inequality'' in the 1951 treaty by deleting from the original document a clause under which the United States was able to intervene in times of insurrection in Japan.

The revised treaty also made clearer the U.S. obligation to defend Japan in the event of an armed attack and allowed the United States to use bases in Japan. But it does not obligate Tokyo to defend Washington when the latter is attacked.

In 1996, the two countries signed the Japan-U.S. Joint Declaration on Security, an add-on to the treaty that expanded the alliance's scope -- which had hitherto been configured for the Cold War era -- to one encompassing the entire Asia-Pacific region.

Obama will also issue a statement on the subject on Tuesday.

Hatoyama, whose Democratic Party of Japan came to power after an election in August that ended more than half a century of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party, has called for ''close and equal'' ties with the United States and indicated a preference to forge closer ties with China.

While seeking a new relationship with the United States based on the alliance, the Hatoyama government has created tension with the Obama administration by calling for a review of both the Futemma relocation plan and the status of forces agreement for U.S. military personnel in Japan.

(Distributed by Kyodo News on Jan. 19, 2009)

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