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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

U.S. warns Japan against reneging on troop plans

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, right, and his Japanese counterpart Toshimi Kitazawa  in Tokyo Wednesday.  (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
John Pomfret And Blaine Harden Washington Post

WASHINGTON – Worried about a new direction in Japan’s foreign policy, the Obama administration warned the Tokyo government Wednesday of serious consequences if it reneges on a military realignment plan formulated to deal with a rising China.

The comments from Defense Secretary Robert Gates underscored increasing concern among U.S. officials as Japan moves to redefine its alliance with the United States and its place in Asia. In August, the opposition Democratic Party of Japan won an overwhelming victory in elections, ending more than 50 years of one-party rule.

For an administration burdened with challenges in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, North Korea and China, troubles with its closest ally in Asia constitute a new complication.

A senior State Department official said the United States had “grown comfortable” thinking about Japan as a constant in U.S. relations in Asia. It no longer is, he said, adding that “the hardest thing right now is not China, it’s Japan.”

In the past week, officials from the DPJ have announced that Japan would withdraw from an eight-year-old mission in the Indian Ocean to refuel warships supporting U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. They have also pledged to reopen negotiations over a $26 billion military package that involves relocating a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter base in Japan and moving 8,000 U.S. Marines from Japan to Guam. After more than a decade of talks, the United States and Japan agreed on the deal in 2006.

The atmospherics of the relationship have also morphed, with Japanese politicians now publicly contradicting U.S. officials.

American discomfort was on display Wednesday in Tokyo as Gates pressured the new government, at meetings with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, to keep its commitment to the military agreement.

“It is time to move on,” Gates said, warning that if Japan pulls apart the troop “realignment road map,” it would be “immensely complicated and counterproductive.”

In a relationship in which protocol can be imbued with deep significance, Gates let his schedule do the talking, declining an invitation to dine with officials from the Defense Ministry and an offer to attend a welcoming ceremony at the ministry.