Secretary Clinton Meets with Japanese Foreign Minister *updated*

Sept. 21st, 2009

**************

**************

Earlier today, Secretary Clinton met with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okad:

Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held their first meeting Monday in New York, with the top U.S. envoy emphasizing the Japan-U.S. alliance is a cornerstone of Washington’s diplomatic policy and indispensable for the security and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region.
Clinton underscored the need for implementing the current plan to realign U.S. forces in Japan, Okada told reporters after meeting with the U.S. secretary of state.

Okada and Clinton also agreed on the importance for the two countries to work on issues related to climate change, according to Okada.

Okada and Clinton met to discuss ways to enhance Japan-U.S. ties as Tokyo is stepping up efforts to get to the heart of alleged secrete security pacts between the two allies.

Prior to their first talks on the fringes of a U.N. General Assembly session in New York, Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, repeated his view that the secret pact issue is Japan’s “domestic matter.”

“Historical documents laid out a pretty clear picture…We’ll have little to add,” he said in a briefing to reporters traveling with Clinton.

Okada has already ordered the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s top bureaucrat to investigate the issue and to report on the outcome of the investigation around the end of November.

Elsewhere, Okada and Clinton are expected to have reaffirmed the importance of bilateral relations amid concerns that Japan and the United States could face challenges under Tokyo’s new policy to seek a more independent relationship with Washington…

The transcript of Secretary Clinton’s very brief remarks to the media prior to their meeting:

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, let me say what a great privilege it is for me to welcome the foreign minister so soon after he has taken his new position – five days. And obviously, the alliance between the United States and Japan is a cornerstone of our foreign policy and indispensable to the security and prosperity of the Asia Pacific. We are both representing new governments, although the minister is much newer than I am now. And I look forward to working with him to develop and strengthen even stronger bonds of partnership, friendship, and alliance in pursuit of our common values, and a future that we hope will be even better for our people.

QUESTION: How much of a blow would it be, Secretary Clinton, if the Japanese seized the Indian Ocean refueling mission for Afghanistan?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Arshad, we’re going to be discussing a wide range of issues. Our relationship between Japan and the United States is so broad and so deep that there isn’t any one issue that defines it. It is comprehensive and it has stood the test of time for many years. And I’m looking forward to working with the minister, and on behalf of the Obama Administration, really rolling up our sleeves and determining how best we can broaden and deepen this already very strong relationship.

QUESTION: Are you going to talk about the bases?

STAFF: Thank you, guys. Thank you, guys.

Did you notice how Arshad tries to toss a curve ball at her? Denied!

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, Secretary Clinton and Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith in New York, September 21, 2009. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)

Advertisement