Publication

Prime Minister of Japan Yukio Hatoyama has set the end of May 2010 as the deadline for the resolution of an issue that has been looming large in Japan–US relations: of the relocation of the US base Futenma on Okinawa. He declares that he is willing to move the base outside Okinawa, an arrangement the US does not agree to. The Futenma base issue is unlikely to undermine the core of the Japan–US alliance, as this would be neither in the interests of either party, nor in the interests of South Korea and Taiwan which fear an excessive strengthening of China’s position.