On Monday, Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will arrive in Washington to meet with
President Obama.
The summit meeting is important for three reasons: first, this is the first Democratic
Party of Japan leader to visit Washington.
In 2009, Japan underwent a historic political transition and a new party came into power.
This new party, the Democratic Party of Japan, has had some difficulty in sustaining leadership
in Japan.
This is the third Prime Minister since 2009 but it is now a party that is well-settled
into the government, so this is an important moment for the Prime Minister to visit President
Obama.
Second, the agenda for the meeting is also significant.
President Obama has articulated a new Asia Pacific strategy, a rebalancing of American
interests and priorities, back towards the Asia Pacific region.
Japan and the US-Japan alliance played a critical role in that strategy.
On the agenda on Monday's discussions will be a number of issues.
On the security side, we should expect the President and Prime Minister to talk about
North Korea.
We should also expect them to talk about non proliferation more broadly, including Iran.
I expect that Afghanistan will also be a subject of interest to both leaders.
Japan plays a leading role in reconstruction assistance in Afghanistan and the situation
on the ground will be of increasing importance to both countries.
Also on the security agenda, I expect the two leaders will talk about the Asia Pacific
more broadly, multi-lateral efforts to sustain stability and security in the region, and
I expect that they would outline their efforts individually to support capacity-building
initiatives by ASEAN and by other countries in South East Asia.
Finally, the two leaders will discuss a thorny issue in the bilateral relationship, the realignment
of US forces in Japan, specifically the realignment of the US marines from Okinawa to other parts
of the Asia Pacific.
Just this past week, the Defense and Foreign Affairs Ministers in Japan and our secretaries
of state and defense announced an initiative that crystallizes more flexible and creative
approach to rebalancing the US Marine Corps presence.
Finally on the economic side, the agenda will of course on Japan's own economic recovery.
After the disasters of March 11, last year, Japan has had a very difficult time regaining
its economic footing and in particular, sustaining its energy supply.
All but one of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors have now shut down.
The public is very concerned about safety, nuclear safety regulations and oversight in
Japan and the Prime Minister is working very hard to restore public confidence in the nuclear
sector.
Energy supply however will need to diversify.
Japan is increasingly purchasing oil from the Middle East and will look to the United
States to supply it with LNG to help it get through this long-term energy adjustment.
Finally, the last issue that will be very important for both leaders is the domestic
political contexts for both of them.
Prime Minister Noda continues to fight at home to sustain DPJ leadership.
He has taken on a consumption tax issue which will help to alleviate some of Japan's fiscal
difficulties but it's a very contentious issue within Japan.
He has opposition within his own party and he has considerable resistance from the leading
opposition party, the former ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party.
Mr. Noda is not the only one however who faces political transitions this year.
The president is preparing for the 2012 elections and there are many in Asia, including in Tokyo,
who are looking to the Obama administration's commitment to Asia and wondering whether or
not this year will be a year of Asia policy initiatives or will be a year with the United
States also be increasingly looking inward to its own domestic politics.
In short, this will be a very important visit for the two leaders.
It will be a very important opportunity to articulate the importance and the future goals
of US-Japan alliance but it will also be one for the two leaders to understand the context
within which they are both trying to lead the alliance forward.