JAPAN: Futenma row may trigger 'Japan passing': experts

Friday, Jan. 15, 2010

Kyodo News

Experts on Japan-U.S. relations are concerned that prolonging the bilateral row over the U.S. Futenma airfield in Okinawa may lead to a situation akin to "Japan passing."

"I think there is a serious danger the current situation will contribute to Japan passing," Kent Calder, director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, said at a symposium Tuesday sponsored by Kyodo News and SAIS. The theme of the symposium was "Japan-U.S.: New Governments and New Relations."

Another panelist, Michael Auslin, director of Japan studies at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, said he feels there is a "strong sense of frustration" among the many U.S. officials dealing with the issue.

But Auslin said such frustration is "good" in a sense, because he thinks it is a reflection of the "continuing importance that is placed on the alliance and on the relationship."

"My concern is that the longer the base issue drags on unresolved . . . it is a natural tendency for the diplomats in Washington to devote less time to it. If they are not getting a return on the time that they are investing, they will simply start putting their energies and their focus elsewhere. That may be elsewhere in Asia, it may be elsewhere around the world," he said.

Apparently to allay concerns over strained bilateral ties, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Koichi Takemasa stressed in a keynote speech at the beginning of the event: "The cornerstone of Japan's foreign policy is the Japan-U.S. alliance. That will not change even after a change of government."

Parliamentary Defense Secretary Akihisa Nagashima, meanwhile, said Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's promise to settle the issue of where to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma by May is "firm" and he will work hard to resolve it.

The Futenma issue has emerged as a major sticking point ever since Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan ousted the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party from power last year with a pledge to seek what it calls "more equal" ties with the United States.

Link to Original Japan Times Article