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February 24, 2009

Obama Hosts Japan's Prime Minister at White House
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=227DC57:A6F02AD83191E160E1ECFB7AB800649670AD7039DCD7B7E4&
 
US president describes Japan as 'cornerstone of security' in Asia, one
of Washington's strongest economic partners 
Japanese PM Taro Aso meets with President Barack Obama at the White
House, 24 Feb 2009U.S. President Barack Obama has met with Japanese
Prime Minister Taro
Aso, the first foreign leader to visit the new U.S. president at the
White House. Mr. Obama described Japan as a "cornerstone of
security" in Asia and one of Washington's strongest economic partners.
He said Japan is a strong partner on issues like climate change and
Afghanistan. For his part, Mr. Aso told reporters that Japan
and the U.S. are two nations which are powerful enough to solve
critical world issues. The U.S. and Japan are the world's two
biggest economies. Mr. Aso has said it is most important for both
countries to have a common approach to the world financial problems. The
U.S. and Japanese leaders were also expected to privately discuss the
North Korean nuclear issue, as well as the kidnappings of Japanese
citizens by North Korean spies in the 1970s and 1980s - an unresolved
point in the six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear
weapons programs. Japanese media have welcomed the new U.S.
administration's attention to Japan, but critics of the prime minister
say he is using the meeting with Mr. Obama to boost his public opinion
ratings. President
Obama has high approval ratings in the U.S. and is wildly popular in
Japan, while one Japanese newspaper, Mainichi, says Prime Minister
Aso's approval rating has sunk to 11 percent. Mr. Aso took
office last September and has since struggled to gain approval for his
more than $100 billion economic stimulus package. Japan must
hold parliamentary elections by the end of this September, and it is
widely believed Mr. Aso's Liberal Democratic Party will lose its
decades-long grip on parliament. 


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