EXCLUSIVE: Senior U.S. Official Campbell to Visit Japan Next Week

Washington, June 10 (Jiji Press)--Senior U.S. State Department
official Kurt Campbell plans to visit Japan next week for talks with new
Japanese government leaders, U.S. and Japanese officials told Jiji Press
Thursday.
Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific
affairs, is expected to arrive in Japan on Wednesday or June 17, the sources
said.
Campbell is expected to meet with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito
Sengoku and other Japanese officials. He may also hold talks with Prime
Minister Naoto Kan, who took office Tuesday to replace Yukio Hatoyama.
His visit is designed to mend bilateral ties, which have been
strained due to a dispute with the Hatoyama government over the fate of a
U.S. Marine airbase in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, the sources said.
On the agenda will be how to implement an agreement on the
relocation of the Futenma base and how to advance talks on deepening the
alliance, the sources said.
Campbell and Japanese officials will also lay the groundwork for a
meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Kan expected to take place
on the sidelines of a summit of global leaders in Canada late this month.
"We're very much looking forward at early contact and deep contact
with the Japanese government," Campbell told reporters.
Tokyo and Washington are also set to hold an experts' meeting in
Japan as early as next week to discuss details of the Futenma relocation.
Campbell expressed hopes that the two countries will reach
agreement by the end of August as they pledged last month.
About local people's opposition to the Futenma relocation within
the prefecture, Campbell said, "I think it's critical to have a positive
dialogue with Okinawa." "We want to work closely with the Japanese
government to do everything possible to mitigate concerns," he said.