[NYTr] US Wants to Keep Japan in US-NATO's Afghan War

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Financial Times - Sep 9, 2007
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b8239c46-5eeb-11dc-837c-0000779fd2ac.html

US lobbies Japan over support in Afghanistan

By Andrew Ward in Sydney

George W. Bush has urged Japan to continue its support for US military
operations in Afghanistan, amid concern in Washington that opposition
parties could force an end to Tokyo’s participation.

During talks at the regional Apec summit in Sydney, Mr Bush told Shinzo
Abe, Japan’s prime minister, that Japanese tanker ships had an
“absolutely essential” role in refuelling coalition vessels in the
Indian Ocean.

Jim Jeffrey, US deputy national security adviser, said the US would be
“very, very concerned” if Japanese support disappeared, and urged Mr
Abe’s opponents to “rethink their position”.

Japanese involvement in the Indian Ocean is authorised by an
anti-terror law that expires on November 1. The opposition Democratic
Party of Japan (DPJ), which gained control of Japan’s upper house in
July, has vowed to block government efforts to extend it.

“The president urged that the Japanese find a way to continue this
very, very important support for our forces,” said Mr Jeffrey. Mr Abe
on Sunday suggested he would resign if he could not persuade parliament
to agree to the extension.

Washington’s concern highlights the potential for the recent upheaval
in Japanese politics to damage relations with Washington.

Writing jointly in the Asahi newspaper, Michael Green and Kurt
Campbell, former advisers on Asia in the current Bush and former
Clinton administrations, respectively, said failure to extend the law
would “lead to inevitable and unfortunate questions for the next [US]
administration – whether Republican or Democrat – about Japan’s
reliability as an ally”.

In an example of Washington’s tricky balancing act in Asia, Mr Bush and
Mr Abe had breakfast together in Sydney with Australian prime minister
John Howard, drawing a sharp protest from China.

The trilateral meeting fuelled concern in Beijing that the US was
seeking to use its regional allies to contain growing Chinese power.
China’s foreign ministry said regional issues should be discussed by
“all members of the Asia-Pacific region”, adding that President Hu
Jintao had raised the issue with Mr Howard. “The key is to build
relations based on equality, not exclusivity,” said an official.

The three leaders also spent time discussing how to engage more closely
with India, the world’s most populous democracy.

Alexander Downer, Australia’s foreign minister, said India was an
increasingly important world power and the three nations had talked
about how to strengthen ties with the country.

The 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit highlighted the
growing battle between the US and China for influence over the region.
Additional reporting by David Pilling in Tokyo and Peter Smith in Sydney

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007