Washington and Tokyo agreed yesterday to keep a contentious US Marine base on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, reaffirming the importance of their bilateral security alliance amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
The agreement cost coalition partner and Consumer Affairs and Gender Equality Minister Mizuho Fukushima her job for opposing the deal, major media reported.
The pacifist Cabinet minister, who leads the Social Democrats (SDP), had refused to support Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s decision to move US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko, in northern Okinawa.
The agreement to move the base is broadly in line with a 2006 deal forged with the previous, conservative government, but represents a broken campaign promise on the part of Hatoyama.
Hatoyama came to office last September promising to create a “more equal” relationship with Washington and to move the air base off Okinawa, which hosts more than half the 47,000 US troops stationed in Japan under a 50-year-old joint security alliance.
After months of searching and fruitless discussions with Washington and Okinawan officials, Hatoyama acknowledged earlier this month that the base would have to stay on the island.
A joint statement issued by the two allies yesterday appeared to highlight rising tension surrounding the March sinking of a South Korean ship blamed on a North Korean torpedo.
“Recent developments in the security environment of Northeast Asia reaffirmed the significance of the alliance,” it said.
US military officials and security experts argued it is essential for Futenma to remain on Okinawa because its helicopters and air assets support Marine infantry units and moving them off the island could slow coordination and response in times of emergency.
The US and Japan “recognized that a robust forward presence of US military forces in Japan, including in Okinawa, provides the deterrence and capabilities necessary for the defense of Japan and for the maintenance of regional stability,” a statement issued by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said.
Reaffirmation of the 2006 deal comes as a relief for Washington.
In a telephone conversation yesterday morning President Barack Obama “expressed appreciation that the two countries could reach an agreement,” Hatoyama said.
The White House also said Obama and Hatoyama pledged to work closely with Seoul in the wake of the sinking of the Cheonan.
The statement also called for sensitivity to Okinawans’ concerns.
“The ministers recognized the importance of responding to the concerns of the people of Okinawa that they bear a disproportionate burden related to the presence of US forces, and also recognized that the more equitable distribution of shared alliance responsibilities is essential for sustainable development of the alliance,” they said
The Cabinet met shortly after the meeting between Hatoyama and Fukushima, in which he reportedly decided to fire her, to endorse the US deal.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano, will take over as consumer affairs minister, Jiji Press reported.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS