Obama's meeting with Japanese PM leaves base issues unresolved

President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, both facing electoral pressures at home, steered clear of controversial trade and military announcements during a joint press conference Monday, focusing instead on their long-term partnership.

"I'm proud to announce that we have agreed to a new joint vision to guide our alliance and help shape the Asia-Pacific for decades to come," Obama said. "This is part of the broader effort I discussed in Australia last year in which the United States is once again leading in the Asia-Pacific."

Noda's visit, the first by a Japanese leader since February 2009, was preceded by last week's announcement that the two countries have agreed to relocate 9,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam and other bases. That agreement leaves unresolved, however, the long-term fate of Okinawa's Futenma air base and the 10,000 Marines who are still stationed there.

Likewise, the two leaders did not announce that Japan would be joining the nine-nation talks to create a Pacific rim trade pact. Noda has championed Japan's participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but he faces strong opposition from rice farmers and his own Democratic Party of Japan.

"We stand with Japan in the Asia-Pacific and beyond," Obama said, "because even as it has focused on the hard work at home [after last year's tsunami], Japan has never stopped leading in the world.

"It's a great tribute to the Japanese people and to leaders like Prime Minister Noda."

Noda for his part said he'd "always held the conviction that our bilateral alliance is the linchpin of Japan's diplomacy."

Obama listed five elements that he said are key to the bilateral vision:

• The U.S.-Japan alliance will remain the "cornerstone of regional peace and security" even as U.S. troops are realigned to be "more broadly distributed, more flexible and more sustainable"

• Promotion of trade and investment, including closer cooperation on nuclear energy.

"There's more we can do, especially as we work to double U.S. exports," Obama said. "We instructed our teams to continue our consultation regarding Japan's interest in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would benefit both our economies and the region."

• A democratic future for the Asia-Pacific region, including encouraging reforms in North Korea and Burma;

• A global partnership committed to peace and human rights, including Japan's participation in the Afghanistan mission and in sanctions against Iran; and

• Closer ties between Americans and Japanese people, notably through scientific and cultural exchanges.

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