Reference ID 	Created 			Released 			Classification	Origin
09TOKYO2377 	2009-10-15 06:06	2011-05-04 00:12 	SECRET			Embassy Tokyo

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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6816
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S E C R E T TOKYO 002377 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/J 
NSC FOR RUSSELL 
DOD FOR OSD/APSA - 
GREGSON/MITCHELL/SCHIFFER/HILL/BASALLA/HAMM 
PACOM FOR J00/J01/J5 
USFJ FOR J00/J01/J5 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/15/2029 
TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR MOPS JA
SUBJECT: A/S CAMPBELL, GOJ OFFICIALS DISCUSS PM HATOYAMA'S 
COMMENTS ON U.S./CHINA/SOUTH KOREA 
 
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission James P. Zumwalt; Reasons 1.4 (B 
) and (D) 
 
¶1.  (S) Summary: EAP A/S Kurt Campbell underscored in his 
October 11-12 meetings with senior-level Japanese officials 
the U.S. Government's concern regarding Prime Minister 
Hatoyama's remarks during the October 10 Japan-China-ROK 
Summit in Beijing on U.S.-Japan relations.  He strongly urged 
Japanese leaders not to seek to improve relations with other 
governments at the expense of the United States.  He pointed 
out that public comments by U.S. officials that the U.S. 
Government ought to focus on China at the expense of Japan 
would lead to a crisis in bilateral relations. 
 
¶2.  (S) Parliamentary Vice-Minister Akihisa Nagashima assured 
A/S Campbell that Hatoyama did not mean to imply that Japan 
would seek to improve relations with China and South Korea at 
the expense of the United States.  Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs (MOFA) Director General for Asia and Oceanic Affairs 
Akitaka Saiki noted MOFA's surprise at Hatoyama's comments, 
adding that the new Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) 
Government was still in the process of organizing itself in 
the foreign policy realm.  A/S Campbell pointed out to Saiki 
that the U.S. Government was also concerned about Foreign 
Minister Okada's recent remarks indicating the exclusion of 
the United States from a new East Asian regional 
architecture.  Saiki, acknowledging Okada's ""stubbornness"" on 
the issue, highlighted that MOFA officials deemed it 
""unthinkable"" to exclude the United States.  He asserted, 
however, that only China benefited if the United States and 
Japan were to debate membership in the East Asia Community 
(EAC) and that China would never allow for Japan to take the 
lead in creating the regional architecture.  All Japanese 
interlocutors stressed to A/S Campbell the primacy of Japan's 
relations with the United States.  In earlier meetings on 
October 11 with A/S Campbell, former Japanese Cabinet advisor 
Yukio Okamoto and MOFA Director General for North American 
Affairs Kazuyoshi Umemoto highlighted Hatoyama's personality 
shortcomings as a possible source for the problematic 
comments and urged that A/S Campbell raise the U.S. 
Government's concerns at higher levels.  End Summary. 
 
USG Concern at Hatoyama's Comments 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C) During October 11-12 discussions with senior-level 
Japanese officials, visiting EAP A/S Campbell repeatedly 
noted the U.S. Government's concern regarding public remarks 
by Prime Minister Hatoyama at the October 10 
Japan-China-South Korea Summit in Beijing, in which he stated 
that Japan had focused excessively on its relations with the 
United States, as opposed to Asia.  A/S Campbell observed 
that the U.S. Government supported the new Democratic Party 
of Japan (DPJ) Government in efforts to build a strong 
relationship with South Korea and China.  He cautioned, 
however, that Prime Minister Hatoyama's comments in Beijing 
drew surprise from the highest levels of the U.S. Government. 
 ""Imagine the Japanese response if the U.S. Government were 
to say publicly that it wished to devote more attention to 
China than Japan,"" A/S Campbell asked his interlocutors 
hypothetically.  Such remarks would create a crisis in 
U.S.-Japan relations, from which recovery would be difficult, 
he explained.  He continued that the United States would 
continue to underscore its commitment to robust relations 
with Japan and would refrain from commenting publicly on 
Hatoyama's remarks.  He nevertheless urged that Japanese 
leaders avoid phrasing their desire for better Chinese and 
South Korean relations at the expense of the United States. 
 
Vice-Minister Nagashima: Misinterpretation 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶4.  (C) In his October 12 meeting with A/S Campbell, Ministry 
of Defense (MOD) Parliamentary Vice-Minister Akihisa 
Nagashima said the Prime Minister did not mean to imply that 
 
Japan should put more emphasis on China and South Korea than 
on the United States.  Rather, Hatoyama solely intended to 
signal his intent to strengthen the Japan-China-South Korea 
trilateral relationship as an initiative going forward. 
Nagashima added that he wished to reassure U.S. officials 
that Japan did not aim to build East Asian relations at the 
expense of the United States. 
 
¶5.  (C) A/S Campbell expressed appreciation for Nagashima's 
assurances and noted that the Japanese government could take 
steps to demonstrate the closeness of U.S.-Japan relations. 
One ""wonderful gesture"" would be for the DPJ Government to 
invite to Japan U.S. veterans who had been involved in the 
World War II campaigns in Corregidor and Bataan.  A decision 
by the Japanese government to welcome these veterans, most of 
whom were in their 70s and 80s, would have great significance 
in the United States and would demonstrate how far the two 
countries had come since the war, explained A/S Campbell. 
 
DG Saiki: MOFA Surprised 
------------------------ 
 
¶6.  (C) MOFA Director General for Asia and Oceanic Affairs 
Akitaka Saiki stressed that the Prime Minister's comments in 
front of the press had surprised MOFA, which believed that it 
was inappropriate to characterize Japan as excessively 
dependent on the United States.  He explained to A/S Campbell 
that the DPJ Government was still in the process of 
organizing itself as to ""who spoke on which issues.""  Saiki 
continued that U.S.-Japan relations remained central and that 
the Japanese government did not intend to emphasize Asia at 
the expense of the Alliance. 
 
¶7. (S) In his meeting with Saiki, A/S Campbell also cited 
U.S. concern at Foreign Minister Okada's recent remarks 
suggesting the exclusion of the United States from a new East 
Asian architecture.  Saiki acknowledged that Foreign Minister 
Okada had been obstinate about not including the United 
States in such proposals.  He offered his view as a MOFA 
bureaucrat, however, that ""it was unthinkable to exclude the 
United States,"" adding that the participants to the 
trilateral summit had not discussed proposals for an East 
Asia Community in any detail.  Okada, Saiki pointed out, was 
""only thinking five to ten years in the future about 
contiguous countries"" when propounding EAC ideas.  Hatoyama, 
for his part, aspired mainly to form a core of countries in 
East Asia with shared values.  If the United States and 
Japan, however, were to debate EAC membership, only China 
would benefit, Saiki asserted.  China, moreover, would never 
allow Japan to take the lead in creating an East Asian 
architecture.  He recounted that when Chinese Premier Wen 
Jiabao had expressed interest in pursuing the EAC proposal 
through the ASEAN Plus 3 process, Hatoyama had countered that 
the ""3 Plus ASEAN"" would be a way for Northeast Asia to take 
the lead.  Wen did not reply, noted Saiki. 
 
State Secretary Takemasa: Japan a Sovereign Nation 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶8.  (C) Later on October 12, Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
(MOFA) State Secretary Koichi Takemasa responded to A/S 
Campbell's points by noting that U.S.-Japan relations 
remained the basis of Japanese security policy.  Takemasa 
observed that Hatoyama's comments were ""mere lip service"" to 
China, as the Prime Minister regards Japan's relations with 
the United States as ""primary.""  He added, however, that 
Japan ""had pride as a sovereign nation"" and recognized that 
it must improve relations with China. 
 
Okamoto and DG Umemoto: Hatoyama's Personality 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶9.  (S) In an October 11 discussion with A/S Campbell, former 
Japanese Cabinet advisor Yukio Okamoto said that the comments 
on China and South Korea showed that the Prime Minister was 
 
weak when speaking with strong-willed individuals.  Okamoto 
added that the Prime Minister usually voiced his opinion 
based on the last strong comments he had heard.  In a similar 
vein, MOFA DG for North America Kauyoshi Umemoto told A/S 
Campbell over lunch on October 12 that Prime Minister 
Hatoyama had ""the habit of telling people what they wished to 
hear.""  He also confirmed that Hatoyama's remarks in Beijing 
had not been planned, and he recommended that A/S Campbell 
raise the U.S. Government's concern at higher levels. 
 
¶10.  (U) A/S Campbell has cleared this message. 
ROOS