Posted on 04/13/2005 11:31:42 PM PDT by tallhappy
Japan agrees to realignment of US' 1st Corps
STAFF WRITER , WITH AP Thursday, Apr 14, 2005,Page 1
The Japanese government has agreed to allow the US Army's 1st Corps headquarters to move from its current location in Washington State to Camp Zama outside Tokyo, a report in the Japanese-language daily Asahi Shimbun said yesterday. Camp Zama is located in the cities of Zama and Sagamihara in Kanagawa Prefecture. The restructuring of the US Army's 1st Corps headquarters is part of an adjustment to allow for better defense cooperation between the US and Japan in the Far East.
Many analysts cite the need to respond rapidly to a contingency on the Korean Peninsula or in the Taiwan Strait as a major factor behind the move.
The sphere of the US Army's 1st Corps headquarters command currently spans the Pacific and Indian oceans. According to media reports, the Japanese government's acceptance of the plan would be contingent on allowing the headquarters to deal only with affairs in the Pacific.
Many details of the move still remain to be worked out before Tokyo will officially accept the plan, the Asahi said. If the move goes ahead, Camp Zama is expected to serve as a unified command center for the army, navy, air force and the marine corps, the report said.
Some 50,000 US troops are stationed in Japan under the Treaty of Mutual Security between the Japan and the United States of America, most of them in Okinawa.
On Monday, Japan's Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi met with the new US ambassador to Japan, Thomas Schieffer. Yachi told Schieffer that bilateral ties between Japan and the US have been "in a very good situation" thanks to close personal relations between US President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the Foreign Ministry said.
No mention of Japan re-militarizing...
If they remain a strong ally (sheesh... they'd better!), they could be a formidable force against both China and North Korea. Even Russia.
Either way, it would be great to shift all of our troops out of South Korea. They're going to be fried in the nuclear holocaust if we don't.
I don't see Nippon wavering as an American ally any time in the near future, and here's why:
America and Nippon are natural allies. We are the two most technologically advanced and richest nations on Earth due to our strong national work ethics. Witness the popularity of Nipponese culture among today's American teenagers, and vice versa.
For us Americans, a re-armed Nippon would not be a threat, but a strong, valued friend in the future Cold War against a Chinese-dominated East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere.
I agree. What many people (the modern Chinese being a particularly loud example) do not realize is that we are looking at a Japanese society which is entirely separate from that we encountered when they attacked Pearl Harbor.
Instead of pressuring them to maintain pacifism (which was indeed a reassuring step when first we conquered them) we ought to be encouraging them to take up a responsible role defending the democracies of the western Pacific.
And I will protest in the streets demanding the Japanese apologize for the Rape of Nanking as soon as I see a *SINGLE CHINESE* marching in Tiananmen Square demanding their government apologize for the Rape of Lhasa, Tibet.
Sheesh, and here I thought that Zama had been closed years ago. Way back in 1984 I helped a critical installation move from Camp Zama to Yokota AB.
This move probably not un-noticed by the Chi-Coms. All calculated moves, all subtle messages.
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