Obama In Japan Stresses U.S.' Renewed Asian Focus

President Barack Obama is scheduled to make what his administration is billing as a major speech Saturday morning Japan time.

One major purpose of the speech, like so much of the president's nearly 10-day trip to Asia, is to demonstrate that the United States is once again focusing on Asia.

Asia experts say Asians felt overlooked in recent years as the U.S.' attention was locked first on Afghanistan, then Iraq, then Afghanistan again.

At his Friday press conference with new Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Obama underscored that the U.S. has Asia firmly on its mind now.

Throughout my trip and throughout my presidency, I intend to make clear that the United States is a Pacific nation, and we will be deepening our engagement in this part of the world. As I said to Prime Minister Hatoyama, the United States will strengthen our alliances, build new partnerships, and we will be part of multilateral efforts and regional institutions that advance regional security and prosperity.

 

What makes the U.S.-Japanese relationship fascinating is that it's a situation of two new governments feeling each other out, with Obama taking office in January and Hatoyama in September. Indeed, Democratic Party represents the first time a political party other than the Liberal Democrats has led Japan in nearly 50 years, except for a one-year period.

Sheila Smith, a Japan expert at the Council of Foreign Relations, had an interesting op-ed piece in the Washington Post in which she writes that Obama and Hatoyama need to modernize the nearly 50 year old alliance between their two nations which can only be done over time, not in a brief visit. An excerpt:

The Hatoyama government started off badly with the Obama administration by announcing its interest in amending the policies associated with the U.S. military presence in Japan. The prime minister's suggestion to move a Marine airfield off Okinawa sparked deep misgivings in Washington. But Defense Secretary Robert Gates's blunt tone in a Tokyo news conference last month, when he called moving the air station off the island "politically untenable and operationally unworkable," shocked many Japanese.

The president has an opportunity to change how Tokyo and Washington work together. First, while both Obama and Hatoyama have noted the value of the diplomatic partnership, they must acknowledge that the U.S.-Japan relationship is no longer based on Cold War understandings but, rather, on its ability to deliver solutions to contemporary problems. The relationship cannot remain static or isolated from the tremendous global and regional changes afoot. They should not attempt to build the alliance's agenda in one visit but over the coming year. Obama will return to Japan in November 2010, when Japan hosts the next Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting. Allowing for real discourse on how to transform our alliance would relieve the pressure on this visit to mark the resolution to all bilateral problems and relieve pressure on a fledgling government trying to accomplish too much. The two leaders should raise their sights considerably; this is simply not the time for messy politics or policy tantrums.

NPR's Scott Horsley reported on All Things Considered that Obama and Hatoyama mostly glossed over their differences during their joint appearance before reporters:

An excerpt of Scott's report:

SCOTT: But as with any new partnership, this one's taking some getting used to. After almost 50 years in which Japan was run by just one political party, the L-D-P, Hatoyama represents a new direction, and he's insisting on a more equal partnership with the U.S. Jeffrey Bader, who oversees East Asian Affairs for the National Security Council says the U.S. welcomes that change. But it does mean a period of adjustment.

BADER: "The relationship with Japan, long the cornerstone and still the cornerstone of the US security presence in East Asia is not one we can take for granted. The world has changed, America has changed, and Japan has changed."

SCOTT: Long-standing complaints about the US military presence on the Japanese island of Okinawa are getting a more sympathetic hearing from Japan's new government. The US has agreed to put the issue to a high-level working group. Hatoyama said through a translator he wants them to work quickly.

HATOYAMA: "It will be a very difficult issue for sure. But as time goes by, I think it will become even more difficult to resolve the issue. So we do understand that we need to resolve the issue as soon as possible."

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SCOTT: The Obama Administration downplayed any differences over Okinawa, stressing instead areas where the U.S. and Japan are already working together, such as Afghanistan.

Earlier this week, Japan pledged $5 billion in civilian aid to Afghanistan. It's also agreed to accelerate joint research projects with the US into clean energy, in an effort to reduce greenhouse gases. And Japan is key ally in the effort to keep Iran and North Korea from developing more nuclear weapons.

OBAMA: "Now obviously Japan has unique perspective on the issue of nuclear weapons as a consequence of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And that, I'm sure, helps to motivate the Prime Minister's deep interest in this issue."

SCOTT: Mr. Obama sidestepped a reporter's question about whether the United States was justified in using nuclear weapons against Japan during World War Two. He did say he'd like to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the future.