WASHINGTON - United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is traveling in
the South Pacific this week to strengthen longtime US alliances with Australia,
improve relations with New Zealand and bring some forward momentum to
US-Japanese negotiations over the controversial relocation of the US air
station in Okinawa.
While not traveling to China and Japan, as US President Barack Obama did in
November, Clinton's trip will likely be dominated by the role of an
increasingly powerful China in the Pacific, tensions
in the US-Japanese relationship and vocal Chinese objections to the US decision
last week to sell nearly US$1 billion in anti-missile batteries and missiles to
Taiwan.
Kicking off the nine-day trip from Honolulu, Hawaii, Clinton on Tuesday met
with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada in meetings intended to reduce
tensions over the currently stalled agreement to realign US forces based at
Futenma, a US Marine Corps air station on Okinawa.
"I don't think we're looking at a breakthrough [in the meetings between Clinton
and Okada]. What we're looking at is a feverish attempt to look beyond
Futenma," Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies, told Inter Press Service. "Whether they'll
be successful is another question."
Prior to taking office in September 2009, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio
Hatoyama's election platform included a call for re-examining Japan's ties with
the US with a particular focus on the 50,000 US military personnel based in
Japan.
"Hatoyama wants to show that he is looking out for Japan's interests and wants
a more 'equal' relationship but he's not going to win votes by undermining
US-Japan relations. He is trying to walk a tough line to be seen as standing up
for 'greater equality' but not undermining the [US-Japan] relationship," said
Cossa.
Clinton has also been careful in the lead-up to the meetings to play up the
strength of the US-Japan alliance and emphasize the policy arenas in which the
US and Japan have cooperated.
"We've had a very positive set of interactions with the new Japanese
leadership," Clinton told reporters on Monday. "We're grateful that they are
playing such a leading role in Afghanistan. Their commitment, a very large
trust fund, $5 billion, dwarfs anything that any other country has done."
Indeed, Japan has played a noticeable role in coordinating donor meetings for
the reconstruction of Afghanistan and has worked with the US and other allies
in anti-piracy operations in the Indian Ocean.
After delivering a speech in Honolulu on the US's Asia-Pacific policy, Clinton
will continue to Papua New Guinea to call attention to environmental protection
issues and women's rights.
She will then travel to New Zealand and Australia, where the war in
Afghanistan, nuclear and trade issues, China's rising influence in the Pacific
and Iran's nuclear program will likely be on the agenda. New Zealand Prime
Minister John Key and Clinton on Friday will have a meeting predicted to cement
relations between their two countries.
Key's center-right government, which took power in 2008, is widely seen as more
friendly to the US than the Labor Party leaders who held office for the
previous nine years and maintained more strained relations with Washington.
New Zealand is also likely to lobby Clinton to give momentum to the
"Transpacific Partnership" free-trade pact, which would include the US, New
Zealand, Vietnam, Brunei, Australia, Singapore, Chile and Peru.
On Sunday, Clinton and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates will meet with
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and their Australian counterparts.
These meetings will likely focus on the war in Afghanistan, and Clinton and
Gates are expected to lobby for the Australians to increase their commitment of
1,500 troops during the US "surge" of an additional deployment of 30,000 troops
in Afghanistan.
While China is not on Clinton's itinerary, the effects of recent US arms sales
to Taiwan will loom over the trip. The Obama administration has been quick to
point out that the deal did not include F-16 fighter jets or Blackhawk
helicopters, a decision that the White House said was a concession to Beijing's
objections to the arms deal.
China has voiced concern over the US decision to go through with the $1 billion
arms deal negotiated under the George W Bush administration as well as Obama's
decision to meet with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
On Monday, Clinton, eager to dispel the notion that US-China relations are
deteriorating, told reporters that the US and China had a "mature relationship"
and that "it doesn't go off the rails when we have differences of opinion".
On Obama's upcoming meeting with the Dalai Lama, Clinton said, "We have a
difference of perspective on the role and ambitions of the Dalai Lama, which
we've been very public about."
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