27 seconds ago 2009-11-28T22:59:45-08:00
TOKYO (AFP) – US President Barack Obama thinks a US military bases pact with Japan, now under review by a new government in Tokyo, serves Japan's interest and will continue, he said in comments broadcast Tuesday.
Obama said he understood that the new centre-left government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, which took power in September after decades of conservative rule, wanted to review aspects of their security alliance.
"Prime Minister Hatoyama was leading a movement of change in Japan that really was unprecedented. It was a political earthquake there," Obama told broadcaster NHK in an interview ahead of his Tokyo visit this week.
"I think that it is perfectly appropriate for the new government to want to reexamine how to move forward in a new environment," he said.
"I'm confident that once the review is completed they will conclude that the alliance that we have, the base arrangements that have been discussed, all those things, serve the interest of Japan and that they will continue."
Hatoyama's government has said it is reviewing a 2006 agreement under which a new US base would be built on the southern island of Okinawa, where 20,000 people protested last Sunday against the large US military presence.
