Cheney reassures Japan on Iraq and North Korea

Tokyo, Feb 21: US Vice President Dick Cheney reassure ally Japan today about US strategy on Iraq despite growing doubts at home and abroad, and pledged to coordinate policies on North Korea's nuclear arms programmes.

Cheney's visit to Tokyo comes just weeks after Japan's defence minister said that starting the Iraq war was a mistake and its foreign minister called the U.S. occupation strategy ''immature''.

The remarks forced Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who Cheney will meet later on Wednesday, to scurry to assure Washington that Tokyo's backing for US policy in Iraq had not changed.

Bush is sending 21,500 more troops to Iraq, but Democrats in charge of US Congress are pressing for a change in strategy.

British media reported that Prime Minister Tony Blair, another close Bush ally, was set to announce today that British troops would start to withdraw from Iraq within weeks.

In his first talks in Tokyo, Cheney and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki agreed that a six-party energy-for-arms deal forged in Beijing last week was a step in the right direction, a statement by the Japanese side said.

Under the deal among the United States, China, Japan, the two Koreas and Russia, Pyongyang will receive fuel aid in return for shutting down and eventually disabling its nuclear facilities.

But Abe has said Tokyo would not provide economic aid to fund the deal until progress is made on resolving a feud over Japanese citizens who were snatched away from their homeland in the 1970s and 1980s to help train spies in language and culture.

''I explained Japan's stance and he expressed his understanding,'' Shiozaki told a news conference after meeting Cheney.

Soothing Iraq Doubts

Abe's critics have said the tough stance may result in Tokyo's isolation internationally.

Cheney is to see the parents of one of the abductees on Thursday morning before he leaves, a last-minute addition to an already tight schedule that officials had said was one reason he would be unable to meet Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma.

Abe, who took office in September, owes much of his public support to his stern stance toward Pyongyang and recent dents to his popularity mean the pressure to stand firm is even stronger.

Cheney who last visited Japan in 2004 and did not meet the defence minister then was also expected to reassure Japan that a U.S. troop build-up would help quell violence in Iraq.

Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, sent about 550 non-combat troops to southern Iraq in 2004 a deployment for which Cheney expressed his thanks.

The soldiers returned home last July, but about 200 Japanese air force personnel based in Kuwait are still transporting supplies to the US-led coalition in Iraq.

Cheney heads tomorrow for Australia, where Prime Minister John Howard is urging Bush to push for a speedy trial of Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks.

Howard's close support for Bush and the 1,400-strong troop commitment in Iraq is shaping up as a major issue as Howard bids for a fifth term in office in elections expected to be called in October or November.

Australia has a total of about 2,000 personnel stationed in Iraq and on Monday Howard said he would send up to 70 more instructors to help train Iraqi forces.

British media reported that Prime Minister Tony Blair was set to announce today that Britain would start to withdraw its 7,100 troops from Iraq within weeks. Blair was expected to say the withdrawal reflected Britain's success in southern Iraq, where control of security is being handed back to Iraqi forces, according to the media reports.

In talks earlier with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki, Cheney thanked Japan for the roughly 550 non-combat troops it sent to southern Iraq in 2004 as part of Tokyo's largest and riskiest overseas mission since World War Two.

The soldiers returned home last July, but about 200 Japanese air force personnel based in Kuwait are still transporting supplies to the US-led coalition in Iraq.

Cheney also sought to allay any fears that Washington's commitment to Japan and the Asia-Pacific would falter.

''The president asked me to make this journey, first to Japan, then to Guam, and then to Australia ... to reaffirm America's deep commitment to a forward presence in the Asia-Pacific region,'' he said in his speech.

The United States has about 50,000 troops based in Japan, about half its total military presence in the region.

The two allies agreed last year to reorganise those forces, including shifting 8,000 Marines from Japan's southern island of Okinawa to the US Pacific territory of Guam by 2014.

North Korea

Cheney and Shiozaki agreed in their talks that a multilateral energy-for-arms forged in Beijing last week was a step in the right direction, a statement by the Japanese side said.

Abe insists Tokyo will not provide economic aid to fund the deal until progress is made on resolving a feud over Japanese citizens kidnapped by the North's agents decades ago.

Under the deal among the United States, China, Japan, the two Koreas and Russia, Pyongyang will receive fuel aid in return for shutting down and eventually disabling its nuclear facilities.

Cheney, who last visited Japan in 2004, is not scheduled to meet outspoken Defence Minister Kyuma.

He will, however, find time in his tight schedule to meet with the parents of one abductee early on Thursday morning, before leaving for Australia.

Reuters

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