Okada to meet Clinton in Hawaii Tue. to discuss Futemma, alliance+

TOKYO, Jan. 8 Kyodo -
Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Friday he and U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton will meet in Honolulu on Tuesday to discuss the thorny
issue of where to relocate a U.S. base in Okinawa and how to deepen the
bilateral alliance.
Japan and the United States are both hoping that the meeting will mark the
start of new consultations to deepen the alliance, with 2010 marking the 50th
anniversary of the revision of the security treaty. The U.S. State Department
made the announcement about the meeting on Thursday.
''In this landmark year, I would like to make the meeting serve as a cue to
further deepen the Japan-U.S. alliance,'' Japanese Prime Minister Yukio
Hatoyama told reporters Friday.
But the move may end up not bearing fruit amid difficulties in bridging the
differences over how to resolve the dispute involving the U.S. Marine Corps'
Futemma Air Station.
Okada told a regular press conference, ''I would like to exchange opinions
broadly and substantially on various issues such as those on the Japan-U.S.
alliance, which include the Futemma relocation issue, on North Korea...nuclear
nonproliferation and disarmament.''
While expressing a desire to talk ''concretely'' with Clinton about how to
further deepen the alliance in the wake of the 50th anniversary, Okada also
said he hopes to touch on the issue of how to reduce the burden on Okinawa,
which hosts the bulk of U.S. forces in Japan.
Starting consultations to review the alliance was agreed on between Hatoyama
and U.S. President Barack Obama during the president's visit to Tokyo in
November.
In Washington on Thursday, Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East
Asian and Pacific affairs, said at a news briefing on Clinton's forthcoming
trip to the Pacific region that the meeting is expected to address the dispute
over the Futemma relocation issue.
''We will talk about the security alliance. We will talk about Okinawa and
Futemma. We will underscore the American message on these issues,'' Campbell
said. ''I think Foreign Minister Okada's visit really is the kickoff of an
effort that will take place over the course of the next year to underscore the
critical importance of this alliance.''
''We think it's important to commemorate what it has achieved, but the truth
is, what's much more important is to focus on what it can do and what it needs
to do in the future,'' he said.
Clinton will stop in Hawaii on her way to Australia, New Zealand and Papua New
Guinea on a nine-day trip to the Pacific region.
During the meeting in Hawaii, Okada is expected to seek understanding from
Clinton on Tokyo's plan to make maximum efforts to reach a decision by May on
the relocation issue.
''There is nothing especially new,'' Okada said in reference to Japan's policy
over the Futemma issue going into the upcoming talks.
Washington has been pressing Tokyo to stick to a 2006 bilateral deal under
which the heliport functions of the Futemma facility would be moved to a less
densely populated area in Okinawa.
But Hatoyama has delayed the decision and is even exploring the possibility of
an alternative relocation site.
The 2006 deal is part of a broader agreement on the realignment of U.S.
military forces in Japan, including the transfer of 8,000 Marines stationed in
the prefecture to Guam.
The issue has emerged as a major sticking point between the two countries after
Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan realized a historic change of power last
September with a pledge to seek what it calls more ''equal'' Japan-U.S. ties.
==Kyodo