*EPF205 02/29/00
Host Nation Support Vital to U.S.-Japan Alliance, Regional Security
(Article on State Official Deming's remarks to Tokyo press) (790)
By Jane Morse
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The financial contributions Japan makes to keep American troops on its soil -- known as "host nation support" -- is vital both to the U.S.-Japan alliance and to regional security, says Rust Deming, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.

During a digital video conference conducted February 25 with reporters, government officials and scholars in Tokyo, Deming emphasized that host nation support must be recognized as not merely a financial issue, but one of strategic importance.

Deming said the governments of both the United States and Japan must work harder to impress upon the general public the importance of the U.S.-Japan partnership. While Japan's support for a U.S. military presence is "now a model for U.S. allies around the world," Deming said, reference in Japan to host nation support as "the sympathy budget" is "not appropriate." Host nation support, he said, is tangible evidence of Japan's commitment to the U.S.-Japan alliance.

Japanese benefit from the U.S. troop presence, Deming said. "Japan is not just protected by the 47,000 Americans in Japan," he said. "The alliance and the American presence mean the entire U.S. military is ready to protect Japan."

He added that most people don't recognize the importance of the alliance and host nation support on a strategic level, he said.

The U.S. forward-deployed military presence in the Asia-Pacific region is not directed at any single threat, Deming said, but maintains "the oxygen of security" that allows the thriving regional economies to develop in a safe environment. Most regional powers, he said, recognize that without a strong U.S. presence, a military power vacuum would develop.

Deming noted that security in Asia largely hinges on individual alliances between nations and the United States -- unlike in Europe, where a multilateral framework provides for military stability. He acknowledged efforts to provide a multilateral framework in Asia now being made by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) Regional Forum, but he predicted that it would be decades before the Forum would be strong enough to become a primary element in maintaining security.

The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Deming said, is a natural and healthy development for discussing security issues. But he warned, "We shouldn't try to force any of these things. We shouldn't try to build a structure that could be misinterpreted as aimed at any other players.... We need to proceed very cautiously."

The U.S.-Japan alliance is the most crucial in the region, he said, and revised guidelines hammered out in 1996 in the joint U.S.-Japan Security Declaration do not alter the treaty in force but do allow Japan to provide the United States with more support in the event of a region crisis. They also deal with improving military-to-military and government-to-government interaction procedures, he said.

Deming was asked about the perception that close U.S.-Japan security ties are a threat to China.

"We need to continue to work with our Chinese friends," Deming said, "to make them understand that good U.S.-Japan relations -- including good U.S.-Japan security relations -- are not a detriment to China. Indeed, they are a benefit to China because they help preserve the stability in the region which is so important to China's economic development."

Deming acknowledged that some people in China are concerned about enhanced U.S.-Japan security cooperation, which will include theater missile defense, "and try to portray the strengthening of the U.S.-Japan relationship as somehow directed at China."

"That is not the case," Deming said. "I think that the United States and Japan can only have a successful policy towards China if the U.S.-Japan relationship itself is very strong."

"We need to engage China," he said. We need to encourage China to play a more constructive role in the region and internationally. And the only way that we can be successful in doing that is if the United States and Japan are basically cooperating."

Deming also said that the current North Korean threat should not be the center of post-Cold War security alliances.

"When the North Korean threat goes away, there still will be a very strong rationale for a U.S. presence in the region, for working with our allies," he said. The region needs to look to a new era of more cooperation and a peaceful environment, he said.

American interests in Asia continue to grow, and "I do not see the United States disappearing from the region," he said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: usinfo.state.gov)

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