US President Barack Obama promised to continue helping key ally Japan in its efforts to rebuild after the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, but also pushed for progress on a long-delayed plan to relocate US forces in the country.
Obama held his first meeting on Wednesday with newest Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. Noda has held office for less than a month and faces domestic challenges beyond the natural disasters, including a stagnant economy and a crushing national debt. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Noda is Japan’s sixth prime minister in five years. He also said rebuilding is his top priority. More than 20,000 people died or were left missing after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan that sent a nuclear power plant into meltdown. It was the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl and led another 100,000 people to leave their homes because of a radiation threat.
Both sides hailed the US-Japanese alliance, which Noda described as the pillar of Japan’s foreign policy. The two leaders said the countries must focus on economic growth.
However, they also broached what has been a sticking point in relations — how to proceed with plans agreed by the two governments in 2006 to relocate a US Marine air station on Okinawa.
Japan’s government has failed to win the assent needed from residents there, although the plans aim to reduce the US military footprint on the island that hosts more than half of the 47,000 US troops in Japan.
“Both sides understand we are approaching a period where you need to see results,” US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Kurt Campbell told a news conference after the 45-minute meeting. “That was made very clear by the president.”
“Japan will do its best to solve the issue,” Noda’s spokesman Yutaka Yokoi said, adding that this included getting the understanding of Okinawans.
There was no sign any headway has been made in the re-basing plans, which would involve building a new airfield in Okinawa and shifting 8,000 marines to the US Pacific territory of Guam. The two sides in June pushed back the 2014 deadline for its completion.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including