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ASIA NEWS OCTOBER 22, 2009

U.S. Presses Japan On Troop Accord

By YUKA HAYASHI

TOKYO -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Japan's new government to quickly implement a
plan to reshuffle U.S. troops stationed there, presenting Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama his biggest
foreign policy challenge since he took office last month.

Following a meeting in Tokyo Wednesday, Mr. Gates and Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa
said the two sides remain far apart on the realignment plan, which would sharply reduce the number of
U.S. troops on the Japanese island of Okinawa. Mr. Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan wants to
reduce troops below levels agreed to in 2006.

The current plan "may not be the perfect alternative for anyone, but it is the best alternative for
everyone," said Mr. Gates. "It's time to move on."

Mr. Kitazawa, however, said domestic politics make it difficult to go ahead with the existing plan. "A
number of extremely difficult hurdles exist," he said. "But it's extremely important for the U.S. and
Japan to overcome those hurdles."

The 2006 agreement calls on the U.S. to move 8,000 Marines to Guam by 2014 and shift part of the
Futenma helicopter facility in a densely populated area to a rural part of the island. Many DPJ
politicians, including all four lower-house representatives from Okinawa, want to move one helicopter
facility off the island.

Mr. Hatoyama may soon need to find a solution that would satisfy Washington while avoiding the
impression domestically that the party is reneging on its campaign promises.

Mr. Gates said the U.S. is open to a small adjustment of moving the new helicopter facility offshore by a
few hundred feet, a solution some local officials in Okinawa are calling for.

Mr. Gates said there is no time limit for reaching an agreement, but said he wanted to see it done as
quickly as possible. Foreign-policy experts say the U.S. wants to clinch some kind of agreement before
President Barack Obama's visit to Japan on Nov. 12 and 13.

Mr. Gates earlier in the day met with Mr. Hatoyama and the Japanese defense chief. On Tuesday, he met
with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada.

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U.S. Presses Japan On Troop Accord - WSJ.com 09-10-29 12:01 PM

Later Wednesday, he flew to South Korea for meetings with top military officials there on Thursday. In a
speech to U.S. and South Korean troops in Seoul, Mr. Gates said the U.S. recognizes that the peril posed
by North Korea "has become even more lethal and destabilizing" because of its pursuit of nuclear
weapons.

"We do not today, nor will we ever, accept a North Korea with nuclear weapons," Mr. Gates said, adding
the U.S. will maintain an "enduring and capable military presence" in South Korea. The U.S. has 28,000
troops based in the country.

Back in Japan, Mr. Gates cited the benefits the country enjoys from the presence of U.S. troops. "The
defense umbrella has protected Japan for nearly 50 years. It allows Japan to have a defense budget of
roughly 1%" of gross domestic product, he said.

The DPJ wants to reassess some aspects of Japan's bilateral relationship with its long-term ally while
beefing up ties with its Asian neighbors. The party swept to power promising a wholesale cleanup of
Japan's post World War II policies. In the process, it ousted the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, a
staunch Washington ally.

As for its contribution to the allied operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Mr. Kitayama said Japan is
studying various options, including dispatching its self-defense forces. Japan now assists with refueling
of ships operating in the Indian Ocean, but the DPJ government has said the current arrangement
would be discontinued when it expires in January. Some experts say refueling, while rather symbolic,
has shown Japan's commitment to playing a real part in solving international conflicts, not just through
checkbook diplomacy.

—Evan Ramstad in Seoul contributed to this article.

Write to Yuka Hayashi at yuka.hayashi@wsj.com

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A11

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