Links
Japan suspends talks about US air base
A rift between the United States and Japan over the future of a military air station on Okinawa widened Tuesday, as Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada told Japanese media that talks on relocating the base have been suspended.
The report offers additional evidence that the newly elected government of Japan is uncomfortable with the military footprint of the United States. Most of the 36,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan are based on the southern island of Okinawa.
Japan may ask the United States to mitigate the military's impact on the daily life of Okinawans before reaching a conclusion on what to do about the air station, Hirofumi Hirano, the chief cabinet secretary, said Tuesday.