WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Japan and the United States have agreed to reinforce their alliance with a new set of common security objectives in the Asia-Pacific region.
In a joint statement issued after the "two-plus-two" meetings involving U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and Defense Agency Director General Yoshinori Ono, the two nations agreed to accelerate consultations to realign U.S. military forces in Japan.
The top-level security talks, the first since December 2002, did not specify how Japan and the United States would promote defense cooperation, except they would examine the "roles" shared by Japan's Self-Defense Forces and U.S. forces, the Kyodo news agency reported Sunday.
The two countries also emphasized one of their objectives was to develop a "cooperative relationship with China" so that Beijing will play a "responsible and constructive role regionally as well as globally."
In addition, the nations agreed to "support peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula" and "seek peaceful resolution of issues related to North Korea," including the nuclear and ballistic missile programs and humanitarian issues.
