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Japan stresses security ties with US

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-24 00:58

US President Barack Obama (R) meets with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in New York September 23, 2009. [Agencies]

NEW YORK: New Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said on Wednesday he had assured US President Barack Obama that relations between the two countries remained the foundation of Japanese security policy.

It was their first meeting after Hatoyama's election pledge to forge a more independent relationship had sparked concerns about ties between the two countries.

Hatoyama's Democratic Party swept to power in an election last month, toppling the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party and vowing to build a more equal relationship with the United States.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Hatoyama said the two had not gone into details of the range of security alliance issues that divide Washington and Tokyo, such as a redeployment of US troops based in Japan and an agreement on the status of those military personnel.

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"I told him the Japan-US alliance will remain the foundation of Japan's security policy," Hatoyama said. He said the meeting, held as world leaders convened at the the United Nations, took place in a "very warm atmosphere."

Hatoyama said he told Obama he wanted to carefully consider the best way to contribute to security in Afghanistan in a way that would be welcomed by the Afghan people, but did not touch on the issue of whether Japan would continue a naval refueling mission in support of US-led military operations to quell the Taliban insurgency.

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has said there will be no "simple" extension of Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of US military operations in Afghanistan, though he has refused to comment on whether the operation might continue under different conditions.

The United States has urged Japan to come up with an alternative plan for Afghan support ahead of Obama's first visit to Japan in November, Japanese media reports say.

"I think President Obama and I were at least able to create some sort of relationship of trust," Hatoyama told reporters. He had said in an earlier news conference this would be his goal for the first meeting.