Agence France-Presse,
Washington (AFP): The United States reaffirmed on Tuesday its commitment to defend Japan amid continuing uncertainty about the future of North Korea's nuclear weapons drive and China's rapidly growing military power. “The United States has the will and the capability to meet the full range of deterrence and security commitments to Japan,” said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after a meeting here of the two allies top diplomats and defense officials.
“Our meeting today demonstrates our commitment and our resolve to ensure that this alliance doesn't just continue, but that it gets stronger,” Rice said.
The so-called “two-plus-two” meeting brought together Rice, her Japanese counterpart Taro Aso, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma for annual talks on bilateral and regional security issues.
Since the grouping last met in May 2006, North Korea rattled regional security concerns by testing its first nuclear weapon and long-range ballistic missiles and China reaffirmed its growing military might by using a missile to knock a satellite out of space.
At a joint press conference, Aso said these events underscored the “uncertainty and instability” facing Japan and he welcomed Washington's renewed pledge to defend and provide “deterrence” for his country — diplomatic shorthand for placing the island nation under the US nuclear umbrella.
North Korea pledged in a February 13 agreement with the US, Japan, China, South Korea and Russia, to give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for political and economic incentives.
But Pyongyang missed an April 14 deadline to shut and seal its main nuclear reactor due to a dispute over some 25 million dollars blocked in a Macau bank by US financial sanctions.
Rice reaffirmed Tuesday that Washington had lifted its objections to the return of the money, but acknowledged that unexpected technical complications had so far prevented the North Koreans from accessing their accounts, in turn delaying the reactor shutdown.
“So we have been willing to step back and give some time for this to be resolved,” she said, but added: “We don't have endless patience.” “We do recognize that North Korea has continued to publicly affirm its obligation under the February 13th agreement and to affirm its intention to carry through. We expect them to do so,” she said.
Tuesday's meeting also included what Aso called a “frank exchange” about a year-old agreement to draw down US forces stationed in Japan, a delicate issue at a time when Tokyo is moving to boost its own military forces and global profile.
Aso said the Japanese side hoped to “further advance the realignment of US forces in japan by giving it a push at the political level”.
Under a realignment “road map” agreed a year ago, Washington was to return some bases to Japanese control while some 8,000 US marines are to redeploy from Okinawa to Guam by 2014, with the bulk of the 10 billion dollar cost borne by the Japanese.
There are more than 30,000 US military personnel currently stationed in Japan.
The four ministers also said they discussed pursuing joint missile defense programs, notably to counter the North Korean threat, and to building strategic regional security ties, including with Australia.
