Okada lists alliance with U.S. as Japan's top diplomatic priority

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ANKARA, Jan. 4 Kyodo -
Japan's top diplomatic priority is to deepen its alliance with the United
States and the resolution of a recent disagreement with Washington over the
realignment of U.S. forces in Japan is premised on this standpoint, Japanese
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said in a policy speech Monday.
''The No. 1 issue for Japan's diplomacy is the deepening of the Japan-U.S.
alliance,'' Okada said in a speech on the diplomatic policy of Prime Minister
Yukio Hatoyama's government given at the Turkish Foreign Ministry during his
two-day visit to the country that began Sunday.
''Heated exchanges are currently taking place between Japan and the United
States over U.S. military bases in Japan but they are premised on this
position,'' Okada said, calling for the enhancement of the alliance through the
debate on where to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in
Okinawa.
Okada said Tokyo's second foreign policy priority is the promotion of diplomacy
with other Asian countries ''with a view to creating an East Asian community.''
On the global front, Okada said Tokyo will ''continue to exercise leadership''
in the run-up to the COP16 U.N. conference on climate change slated to start in
November in Mexico.
Japan will also ''devote all its energy'' to ensure the success of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference in May, he said.
==Kyodo
2010-01-04 23:41:07