Hatoyama Stresses Significance of Japan-U.S. Security Alliance

Tokyo, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Tuesday that the security alliance between his country and the United States continues to be indispensable for the peace and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region as well as the defense of Japan.

In a statement to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signing
of the revised Japan-U.S. security treaty on Jan. 19, 1960, Hatoyama said
that the alliance has made significant contributions to the region's
stability, stressing that Japan owes its postwar peace and economic
expansion to its security ties with the United States.
Hatoyama said that his government will discuss with the United
States how to deepen the bilateral security alliance centering on the treaty
and make it fit for the 21st century, adding that he hopes the results of
the discussions will be announced within this year.
Japan and the United States are slated to hold a meeting of the
Security Consultative Committee, known as a "two-plus-two" forum among the
two countries' foreign and defense ministers, during the first half of this
year for the discussions on ways to strengthen the security alliance.
The Japanese side hopes to draw a conclusion by the time U.S.
President Barack Obama visits Japan in November to attend a summit of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to be held in Yokohama, southwest of
Tokyo.
Political watchers say that the key to success in working out
measures to deepen the security alliance is whether Tokyo and Washington can
resolve the controversial issue of relocating the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma
Air Station in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa.
The two countries in 2006 agreed to relocate the base in the city
of Ginowan to the Marine Corps' Camp Schwab in Nago in the same prefecture.
But the Hatoyama government, launched in September last year, is reviewing
the accord and looking for an alternative relocation site.
In the statement, Hatoyama said that the security situation
surrounding Japan is tough, pointing, for example, to North Korea's missile
and nuclear tests.
U.S. deterrence based on the bilateral security alliance will
continue to play a significant role to ensure the peace and security of
Japan, which has vowed not to possess nuclear weapons or become a military
superpower, Hatoyama said.
Hatoyama stressed the significance of the U.S. military presence in
Japan, saying he believes that U.S. forces stationed in the country will
continue serving as something like public property by providing a great
sense of security to nearby nations at a time when the regional security
situation remains unstable.