Kan, Obama Agree to Strengthen Japan-U.S. Alliance

New York, Sept. 23 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan
and U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday reaffirmed their intention to
further strengthen the two countries' alliance.
Meeting here on the fringe of the U.N. General Assembly session,
they agreed that Japan and the United States will closely watch China's
activities and cooperate fully over growing tensions between Tokyo and
Beijing following the Japanese authorities' arrest earlier this month of the
skipper of a Chinese trawler that collided with Japanese patrol ships near
disputed islands in the East China Sea.
In response to the arrest, China has suspended high-level exchanges
with Japan and unilaterally put off planned bilateral talks on concluding a
treaty for joint natural gas development in the East China Sea.
At the meeting with Kan, Obama did not refer to foreign exchange
issues, according to Japanese sources with access to the talks.
On Sept. 15, Japanese authorities sold yen for dollars to stanch
the Japanese currency's sharp appreciation. The market intervention was the
first by Japan in more than six years.
Kan told Obama that the Japanese government will push forward with
the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in Okinawa
prefecture, southern Japan, based on a bilateral agreement reached in May.
Kan said that Tokyo will make efforts to reduce the burden on
Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities and troops in
Japan, in order to win the local community's understanding of the relocation
plan. In reply, Obama said that he understands Japan's situation.
The May agreement calls for the Futenma base in Ginowan, Okinawa,
to be moved to the Henoko coastal district in Nago in the same prefecture,
where the Marine Corps has Camp Schwab. But the plan has effectively been
stalled as Okinawa strongly opposes the Futenma relocation within the
prefecture.
The Kan-Obama meeting was the second since the Japanese prime
minister took office in early June. Their first meeting took place in Canada
in late June.
Thursday's meeting was joined by Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji
Maehara and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
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