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Japan's new government seeks to reassure U.S.
Wed Sep 2, 2009 2:17am EDT
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By Chisa Fujioka and Tetsushi Kajimoto
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's new government sought to reassure security ally Washington on Wednesday that no upheaval is in store for U.S.-Japan relations, as the country gropes toward a rare handover of power.
The Democratic Party of Japan has begun a transition to power after trouncing the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in an election on Sunday, with parliament due to appoint Democrats' leader Yukio Hatoyama prime minister in two weeks.
Managing relations with the United States, Tokyo's closest security ally, is high on the agenda as a new American ambassador ruled out any changes to controversial plans to relocate some U.S. bases in Japan.
Hatoyama wants to chart a new course more independent of Washington without damaging an alliance long at the core of Japan's diplomacy and a senior Democratic Party lawmaker sought on Wednesday to allay simmering concerns, including among investors, over the relationship.
"We have repeatedly said Japan-U.S. relations are most important as a basic principle in diplomacy and stressed the importance of continuity in diplomacy," Kohei Otsuka said in an interview with Reuters.
The Democrats have said they want to reexamine an agreement governing U.S. military forces in Japan and a deal under which about 8,000 Marines will leave for the U.S. territory of Guam and a Marine Corps air base would be shifted to a less populated part of the southern island of Okinawa.
New U.S. ambassador to Japan John Roos said in an interview with U.S. National Public Radio the deals were not negotiable.
"Just to make it abundantly clear, both the United States and Japan, at the government-to-government level, have made it absolutely clear that these agreements have been signed, agreed to, and are going forward," Roos said.
The Democrats have said they want the air base moved off Okinawa, where many residents feel they shoulder an unfair share of the burden of the U.S.-Japan security alliance.
Hatoyama will head to the United States soon after forming his cabinet to make his diplomatic debut at a U.N. General Assembly meeting and a G20 summit in Pittsburgh. Japanese media said he would also hold talks with U.S. President Barack Obama.
The U.S.-educated Hatoyama raised eyebrows in Washington with a recent essay in which he attacked the "unrestrained market fundamentalism" of U.S.-led globalization. He sought to play down those comments on Monday, saying he was not anti-American.
TRANSITION IN PROGRESS
Other party executives sought to push ahead with an almost unheard-of handover of power in Japan.
Democrat Secretary-General Katsuya Okada met the top aide to outgoing Prime Minister Taro Aso and requested that government ministries help ensure a smooth transition. It is only the second time the LDP has lost power since its founding in 1955.
Aso instructed the aide, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura, to cooperate in the handover, Kyodo news agency said. Continued...
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