Hosono: Washington can trust Japan again

The new acting secretary general of Japan’s ruling party took time out of a heated campaign to visit Washington briefly Friday night, to deliver the message that the Obama administration no longer has to worry about the Japanese government’s commitment to the U.S.-Japan alliance.

In what several observers called his "reassurance tour," rising star Goshi Hosono spoke to a group of experts and officials at a dinner hosted by the Center for a New American Security, the culminating event of the think tank’s two-day conference on U.S.-Japan relations. Hosono took over the position when former Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa stepped down along with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama last month.

Hosono was forceful, even aggressive, in describing the importance of the security relationship between the world’s top two economies and the need for Japan to take a larger and more active role in regional security operations.

He spoke about working toward a "close and equal" U.S.-Japan alliance and pledged to work to "deepen" the alliance through a "functional expansion of its powers."

"The alliance must serve not only as a public good in bringing stability to the region, but it must also play an active, problem solving role in regard to a number of pressing issues," he said.

The decline of U.S. naval power presents an opportunity for Japan to be more involved in maritime security, Hosono said, including participating in operations to protect sea lanes.

Hosono addressed directly the poor relationship Hatoyama had with President Obama. That relationship soured when Hatoyama asked Obama to "trust" him on the issue of the Futenma Marine corps base on Okinana. Obama felt that Hatoyama betrayed that trust, leading to a cooling of the relationship at the highest levels.

"There are many people in the room who are not sure whether [Prime Minister Naoto] Kan is trustworthy. We feel in Japan that through his leadership, we can trust him," Hosono said.

The Obama administration saw chaos in the Japanese decision making in the Hatoyama administration, but Hosono promised this would also be addressed by the new government. He said there will be a "firm control tower" inside the cabinet, made up of by Prime Minister Kan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, and the General Secretary of the party Yukio Edano.

He promised to stick to the deal that Hatoyama finally struck with Washington over Futenma and pledged to focus on "reducing the burden" on Okinawa residents while sticking to the agreement.  

As for whether the Obama administration’s tough stance on the Futenma base contributed to Hatoyama’s downfall, Hosono said that actually, it did.

"This a large issue for those of us who are politicians," he said. "The reason that the Hatoyama administration could not continue was not because this issue was of such strong interest in the domestic sphere, but that it grew to be a large foreign policy issue that made the administration vulnerable."