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On the evening of February 17, DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa met with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a Tokyo hotel and firmly shook hands after confirming their desire to build a strong partnership between Japan and the United States. The meeting was also attended by DPJ Acting Presidents Naoto Kan and Azuma Koshiishi, Secretary-General Yukio Hatoyama and Diet Affairs Committee Chair Kenji Yamaoka.
After the meeting, Ozawa told the press that he had thanked Secretary Clinton for coming to visit Japan and also for meeting him later in the day taking into accounts of his prior commitments.
Ozawa also reported that Secretary Clinton had told him to the following effect: next year is the 50th anniversary of the Japan-US alliance.
For both countries, and for Asia as a whole, this alliance has been beneficial in various ways.
Over the next 50 years, let's work together to create even firmer alliance between our two countries.
In response, Ozawa said that he agreed
completely. He revealed that friends of his in the United States had recently warned him that some of his recent words and actions had been misunderstood. However, he explained that he was simply maintaining his long-held position that an alliance was only an alliance when it was an equal partnership, saying, "I am someone who has consistently stated that the Japan-US alliance is of the utmost importance. However, in an alliance, one party should not follow the other in a subservient relationship. They should exchange opinions, hold discussions and tried to reach better conclusions. Their relationship also has to allow them to firmly uphold the conclusions which have been agreed." Secretary Clinton responded by saying the Japan-US alliance, based on a principle of partnership, could be leveraged effectively in various fields.
Furthermore, Ozawa said the discussion had also touched on the realignment of the US military in Japan and the North Korea issue. On the former topic, Ozawa said that "as allies, both countries have to talk firmly about their global strategies and address individual issues after having reached overall agreement". Ozawa told the press that during the discussions with Clinton he had spoken of his view on the Japanese government's previous failures to adequately present its position which is also the end result of the lack of Japanese people to take on responsibility for difficult roles [in the context of Japan-US alliance].
On the issue of North Korea, Ozawa said that he had told, "I don't think North Korea has any intention of letting of the nuclear card" before pointing out the issue of China is an even larger issue than North Korea. He noted that while the introduction of market economy into China has achieved significant results, "this is a double edged sword because communism and market economics cannot go together as a matter of principle. At some stage those contradictions will come to the surface," stressing that China would be the biggest concern for Japan and the US. Ozawa said that he had stressed the importance for Japan, the US and the international community of ensuring that the democratization of China is achieved through a soft landing.
Secretary Clinton noted that Ozawa had made "very important observations" and added that "in any case the triangle of relationships between Japan, the US and China is extremely important", confirming that she shared Ozawa's assessments of the situations.
Finally, Ozawa revealed that, after looking back on her day, Secretary Clinton said that she would "like to continue with such discussions", and Ozawa had responded that in order to continue such discussions with the Secretary of State and other US senior officials, the DPJ was resolved the to fight hard and achieve victory in the upcoming general election.
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