Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has spent the past few days meeting with Japanese and South Korean leaders to discuss issues ranging from the strategy in Afghanistan to nuclear proliferation and Asian military power.
But in Tokyo, Gates and Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa had a tense discussion over the two countries’ military relationship. Japan’s new Democratic Party-led government wants a diplomatic plan less dependent on the U.S.
At the center of the tension is a base re-alignment plan, agreed in 2006 with Japan’s long-dominant conservative party after a 1996 deal failed to gain support of local residents, many of whom associate the bases with crime, noise, pollution and accidents. Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s administration wants the pact reviewed.
The troop realignment pact is meant to reduce the U.S. military “footprint” on the southern island of Okinawa while improving the ability of the two forces to cooperate. Japan is host to about 47,000 U.S. military personnel, whose forward deployment analysts say is critical to the American military presence in the region.
The plan would move a U.S. Marine air base on Okinawa to a less crowded part of Okinawa, and call for 8,000 Marines to be relocated to Guam, a U.S. territory. Hatoyama has said the entire base should be moved off the island, the U.S. has said that’s not an option, because it would undermine previous security agreements.
President Barack Obama’s administration has said they stand by previous agreements but are willing to listen to Hatoyama’s concerns. Kitazawa has said he doesn’t “think it’s constructive for both governments to spend a lot of time on this,” citing a number of other issues the two allies need to work out, though Hatoyama has said he would like to spend more time reaching an agreement.
What’s intriguing about this debate is Japan’s willingness to give America the boot, even though our military presence there has allowed the nation to spend only one percent of its gross domestic product on defense (that’s opposed to 4.8 percent in the U.S.) and provided a number of other defense benefits.
China is growing quickly and could soon overtake Japan as the world’s second-largest economy. North Korea is looking raising a ruckus whenever it has the chance. It’s a must for the U.S. and its allies in Northeast Asia, especially Japan, to have workable arrangements. Gates said at one point the base relocation is a “lynchpin” of military agreements with Japan, and he sees no better alternative.
It’s important that the U.S. and Japan work something out that is mutually agreeable and beneficial. As Hatoyama said, “Under the circumstances in which uncertainties remain in this Northeast Asia region, I think it is imperative to maintain and develop our alliance even further.”
For more information about Gates’ recent trip to Asia, click here.
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