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| Image: Flickr User - U.S. Department of State |
By Mina Pollmann
A 2+2 meeting in New York set the stage for Japanese PM Abe’s visit to the U.S. What issues were on the agenda?
Japan and the United States held a “two-plus-two” meeting on Monday in New York City between Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. At the meeting, the two sides agreed to update the bilateral defense guidelines, as Ankit reported for The Diplomat’s Asia Defense blog.
In addition to coming to an agreement about the guidelines (PDF), the ministers discussed the plan for U.S. forces in Okinawa. Both sides affirmed that relocating the Futenma facilities from Ginowan to Henoko is the “only solution” for U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa. Even though Kishida and Nakatani showed determination to go forward with the relocation, they asked for greater U.S. understanding to reduce the burden on Okinawa, through policies such as increasing transfers to Guam and returning Okinawan land to Japan.
However, no mention was made of Okinawan local politics — Okinawa, under Governor Takeshi Onaga, has become increasingly hostile toward the relocation. The U.S. side reciprocated Japanese overtures by showing willingness to cooperate with Japan, but did not mention any specific measures for reducing the burden on Okinawa.
Read the full story at The Diplomat