Submitted by admin on Sat, 2005-10-29 08:00. ::
Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. and Japan will agree to abide by a set of proposals to increase military cooperation, realign U.S. forces, and give Japan a greater role in regional security to better adopt to Asia's shifting strategic makeup.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will meet their Japanese counterparts, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and defense chief Yoshinori Ono, at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, today to accept the plan.
The proposals include enhanced strategic planning between the two countries, stepped up joint military exercises, ballistic missile defense cooperation, increased intelligence sharing, and mutual use of bases and other defense facilities.
The plan marks one of the biggest changes in defense relations between the world's two biggest economies since the end of World War II. It comes as the U.S. grows increasingly concerned over China's military buildup and North Korea's growing nuclear capabilities.
The plan follows a Pentagon announcement two days ago that Japan will allow the U.S. Navy to station a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at the Yokosuka naval base near Tokyo, in 2008. The move overturns three decades of local Japanese opposition to nuclear-powered ships.
Under the proposal, the U.S. and Japan would share an air- defense command center to built on Yokosuka, the forward- deployment headquarters of the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet. It is the only port outside the U.S. to permanently host a U.S. carrier.
The new arrangement would reduce the footprint of the U.S. military in Okinawa by about 7,000 Marines now on Okinawa moving to Guam in as soon as six years. Okinawa currently hosts about 18,000 of the 40,000 U.S. troops in Japan. The U.S. earlier this week said it will relocate a military heliport in Okinawa's Futenma Air Station to Camp Schwab.
The U.S. took Okinawa during World War II and returned it in 1972, but maintains a major base there. Today's accord contemplates returning some land around the base to Japan.
President George W. Bush's arrival in Japan next month to meet Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is adding impetus to the talks between the nations' militaries. Bush is scheduled to meet Koizumi on Nov. 16 in Kyoto ahead of attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Busan, South Korea.
The visit comes with Bush's approval rating at an all-time low, in part due to his handling of the Iraqi war. Koizumi has been criticized by South Korea and China after visiting Yasukuni Shrine, which memorializes war criminals.
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