Japan, U.S. arranging for Kan`s U.S. visit in late June
TOKYO, Jan 31 (Kyodo) - The Japanese and U.S. governments are trying to arrange for Prime Minister Naoto Kan to visit the United States in late June to meet with President Barack Obama and issue a joint statement on common strategic goals and vision on the bilateral alliance, Japanese government sources said Sunday.
The visit had been expected for the spring but June has come to be favored in light of the schedule of Japanese parliament, with the ordinary Diet session slated to adjourn June 22, and other factors.
Prior to the envisaged summit in Washington, Japanese and U.S. foreign and defense ministers will gather for a two-plus-two national security meeting during Japan's holidays from late April to early May to update the two countries' common strategic goals agreed on in 2005, the sources said.
But Kan and Obama are unlikely to be able to make progress on the contentious bilateral plan to relocate the U.S. Marines' Futenma Air Station within Okinawa Prefecture amid persisting local opposition, and will likely merely reaffirm an existing agreement at their summit, they said.
Kan's visit plans are far from fixed, however, as his government could face challenges in passing the fiscal 2011 budget and related bills in the divided parliament, where opposition parties dominate one of the bicameral chambers and are threatening to block the bills.
In his policy speech on Monday, Kan called the Japan-U.S. alliance the foundation of Japan's foreign policy and security and said he hopes to ''create jointly with President Obama a vision through which we succeed in further deepening the Japan-U.S. alliance of the 21st century.'' The two are expected to present in their joint statement the outcome of talks on deepening alliance in the fields of security, economy, and cultural and personal exchanges, the sources said.
On national security, Kan is expected to aim at realizing concrete Japan-U.S.
defense cooperation, keeping in mind a possible contingency on ! the Kore an Peninsula and other areas.
The planned summit meeting will also provide Japan a chance to convey its policy to the United States on whether it would join talks on the U.S.-backed regional free trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership as Kan has said he intends to decide on the matter by around June. (Kyodo)
The visit had been expected for the spring but June has come to be favored in light of the schedule of Japanese parliament, with the ordinary Diet session slated to adjourn June 22, and other factors.
Prior to the envisaged summit in Washington, Japanese and U.S. foreign and defense ministers will gather for a two-plus-two national security meeting during Japan's holidays from late April to early May to update the two countries' common strategic goals agreed on in 2005, the sources said.
But Kan and Obama are unlikely to be able to make progress on the contentious bilateral plan to relocate the U.S. Marines' Futenma Air Station within Okinawa Prefecture amid persisting local opposition, and will likely merely reaffirm an existing agreement at their summit, they said.
Kan's visit plans are far from fixed, however, as his government could face challenges in passing the fiscal 2011 budget and related bills in the divided parliament, where opposition parties dominate one of the bicameral chambers and are threatening to block the bills.
In his policy speech on Monday, Kan called the Japan-U.S. alliance the foundation of Japan's foreign policy and security and said he hopes to ''create jointly with President Obama a vision through which we succeed in further deepening the Japan-U.S. alliance of the 21st century.'' The two are expected to present in their joint statement the outcome of talks on deepening alliance in the fields of security, economy, and cultural and personal exchanges, the sources said.
On national security, Kan is expected to aim at realizing concrete Japan-U.S.
defense cooperation, keeping in mind a possible contingency on ! the Kore an Peninsula and other areas.
The planned summit meeting will also provide Japan a chance to convey its policy to the United States on whether it would join talks on the U.S.-backed regional free trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership as Kan has said he intends to decide on the matter by around June. (Kyodo)
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