Japan PM arrives in Washington for summit with Obama

2013-02-21 23:13:48 GMT2013-02-22 07:13:48(Beijing Time) ?SINA.com

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday started a visit to the United States in which he hopes to show a firm, unified line to an "assertive China".

Abe arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington on Thursday afternoon. He meets Obama at the White House on Friday at a time of growing tensions between Japan and China, and days after a nuclear test by Pyongyang.

Fresh from a convincing December election victory and with high approval ratings, Abe has taken small steps toward a harder Japanese stance including moving to step up military spending by the officially pacifist state.

Danny Russel, Obama?s top advisor on Asia, said that the United States wanted a diplomatic solution to ease tensions over contested islands in the East China Sea.

Obama ?remains supportive of the peaceful efforts to find diplomatic resolution to outstanding issues of territorial claims,? Russel told reporters on a conference call.

Russel said that the United States wanted to avoid ?miscalculation? between China and Japan, saying that the world?s second and third largest economies were leading a region that is ?the driver of growth and dynamism.?

In an interview with The Washington Post ahead of his trip, Abe voiced hope that the U.S. alliance?and the presence of 47,000 American troops on Japanese soil under a security treaty?would "send a message to China".

Officials said that the two leaders would also look to show a common front on Pyongyang, which carried out its third nuclear test on Feb 12 despite pressure.

Abe, who previously served as prime minister from 2006 to 2007, has throughout his career been known as a hawk on Pyongyang.

Abe?s Liberal Democratic Party swept out of power the left-leaning Democratic Party of Japan, which initially had a rough relationship with Obama by pushing for the withdrawal of more US troops from crowded Okinawa island.

Robert Hathaway, director of the Asia program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, expected Obama to be forthright in public comments but to talk privately to Abe about avoiding miscalculations that could send tensions soaring with China.

Abe, who faces upper house elections in July, is likely to speak to Obama about whether Japan will join talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a U.S.-backed free trade pact bitterly opposed by many Japanese farmers.

White House official Michael Froman said that any nation that enters negotiations would be expected to put ?everything on the table.? Abe, during his campaign, said that certain sectors should be exempted.

(Agencies)

Source: http://english.sina.com/world/2013/0221/563866.html

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