Hillary plays down row over air base

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought to defuse a dispute over a US air base in Japan as she arrived in Hawaii for Tuesday talks with her Japanese counterpart Katsuya Okada.

Honolulu: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought to defuse a dispute over a US air base in Japan as she arrived in Hawaii for Tuesday talks with her Japanese counterpart Katsuya Okada.

Launching her fourth Asia tour since becoming the chief US diplomat a year ago, Clinton also said Washington intends to "exercise influence" in Asia for another century and serve as a stabilizing force against China`s rising power.

Clinton, speaking to reporters on the way to Honolulu Monday on the eve of talks with Okada, played down the dispute over the relocation of the Futenma Air Base on Okinawa that has caused tension in the post-war alliance.

"The significance of our meeting is to reaffirm the centrality of our 50-year-old alliance," Clinton said on a tour that will also take her to Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand.

"It (the alliance) provides stability for the region. And I think it`s much bigger than any one particular issue," Clinton said, suggesting the alliance trumped the problem of the base.

Tokyo`s relations with its most important ally have been strained over the Futenma base, which Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has suggested should be moved off the southern island of Okinawa or even outside Japan altogether.

The center-left Hatoyama, who took power in September, has pledged to review past agreements on the US military presence, including plans to shift Futenma within Okinawa, and to deal with Washington on a more "equal" basis.

But Clinton urged patience as a new party adjusts to power in Japan and put a positive spin on US ties with the new government, praising it for setting up a five-billion-dollar fund for Afghanistan.

"So we see our relationship with Japan as very broad and deep, and security is obviously a critical part of that, but it is by no means the only part," she said.

Yomiuri newspaper and other reports said Sunday that Clinton and Okada will make final arrangements Tuesday for an anniversary statement by the US and Japanese leaders stressing the contribution of their alliance to global peace.

The security treaty, signed on January 19, 1960, has formed the bedrock of the post-war Japan-US alliance, under which pacifist Japan relies on a massive US military presence to guarantee its security.
During her two-day stop, Clinton will visit the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, which commemorates those who died in the Japanese surprise attack on December 7, 1941 that brought the United States into World War II.

PTI

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