Japan PM seeks united line with Obama
WASHINGTON: Japan’s new conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe heads yesterday to the White House, where he hopes to show a firm, unified line to influence an assertive China and a defiant North Korea.
Abe arrived in Washington on Thursday at a time of growing tensions between Japan and China, which is seen as challenging Tokyo’s control over strategic islands, and days after a nuclear test by Pyongyang.
Fresh from a convincing December election victory and with high approval ratings, Abe has taken small steps toward a harder Japanese stance including moving to step up military spending by the officially pacifist state.
Danny Russel, President Barack Obama’s top adviser on Asia, said the US wanted a diplomatic solution to ease tensions but also reiterated a veiled warning to China over contested islands in the East China Sea.
“Obama remains supportive of the peaceful efforts to find diplomatic resolution to outstanding issues of territorial claims,” Russel told reporters on a conference call.
The president has also “been clear in the US’ opposition to coercive actions or unilateral steps that threaten the stability of the region,” he said.
Abe’s visit comes one month
Obama remains supportive of the peaceful efforts to find diplomatic resolution to outstanding issues of territorial claims. Danny Russel, President Barack Obama top adviser on Asia
after then secretary of state Hillary Clinton stepped up the tone, warning Beijing not to challenge Japan’s control over the islands known as the Senkaku in Japanese and the Diaoyu in Chinese.
The remarks by Clinton, a forceful advocate for a greater US focus on Asia, triggered a reprimand from China but heartened Abe, who is serving as premier for the second time after a 2006-2007 tenure.
In an interview with The Washington Post ahead of his trip, Abe voiced hope that the US alliance – and the presence of 47,000 American troops on Japanese soil under a security treaty – would send a message to China.
“It is important for us to have them recognize that it is impossible to try to get their way by coercion or intimidation,” Abe said.
China contests Japan’s historical claims in the area and voiced anger after Tokyo nationalized the islands last year, a move Abe’s predecessor said was meant to avert a more provocative proposal.
Officials said that the two leaders would also look to show a common front on North Korea, which carried out its third nuclear test on Feb 12 despite pressure from virtually all nations, including its main ally China.
Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party swept out of power the left-leaning Democratic Party of Japan, which initially had a rough relationship with Obama by pushing for the withdrawal of more US troops from crowded Okinawa island.
Robert Hathaway, director of the Asia program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, predicted Obama would be forthright in public comments but talk privately to Abe about avoiding miscalculations that could send tensions soaring with China.