Obama Seeks To Bolster Strong Japan Alliance

`This meeting is not about the individuals so much as it is about the relationship between the countries`, said Ralph Cossa.

President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso will discuss the global economic crisis, Afghanistan and North Korea at a meeting on Tuesday aimed at reinforcing the strong alliance between their two countries.

Aso is the first foreign leader to visit the White House since Obama took office a month ago, signaling the new U.S. president's aim of cultivating warm ties.

But it is unclear whether Aso, who will sit down with Obama at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT), will be paying many future visits to the Oval Office.

After a series of flip-flops and gaffes by his government, some in Aso's own Liberal Democratic Party have called for him to be replaced and a poll released this week showed almost four out of five Japanese voters want him to quit within months.

"This meeting is not about the individuals so much as it is about the relationship between the countries," said Ralph Cossa, head of the Pacific Forum think tank at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Cossa said that despite the staunch friendship with the United States, there has been some anxiety in Japan over moves begun in the final years of the Bush administration to engage North Korea as part of an effort to persuade Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

Obama's campaign promise of direct engagement with foes like North Korea and Iran further fueled some uncertainty in Tokyo. Separate concerns center on fears that the Obama administration may be inclined to pursue more protectionist trade policies.

But in the early weeks of his administration, Obama and his aides seem intent on putting those worries to rest.

A U.S. official, describing what Obama hopes to accomplish in the meeting with Aso, said Japan was a "close ally and strategic partner of the U.S. and plays a central role in stability and prosperity of Asia and the world."

ECONOMIC CRISIS

Aso is visiting Washington just after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton returned from a trip to Asia, in which she made Japan the first stop and hailed the bilateral relationship as the "cornerstone of our efforts around the world."

Obama last week ordered a boost of 17,000 troops in Afghanistan aimed at stabilizing the deteriorating situation there. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has called on allies for more help.

But analysts say there is little chance Obama will lean on Aso to provide military help as popular former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi did for then-U.S. President George W. Bush in Iraq. Critics called the dispatch of non-combat troops to Iraq a breach of Japan's pacifist constitution.

Obama's meeting with Aso comes just hours before the U.S. president is to give a major nationally televised address to Congress that will outline his domestic and foreign policy agenda.

The speech will focus heavily on Obama's plan to rescue the U.S. economy from its recession and will discuss the implementation of the newly passed $787 billion economic stimulus plan.

Japanese media have speculated that the need to find buyers for a raft of new U.S. Treasury bonds to fund the stimulus package is at least one of the reasons behind Obama's charm offensive. Japan is the second-largest holder of U.S. government bonds after China.

But a Japanese government official said he did not expect the issue to be on the agenda.

"We do not expect bonds to be raised at the summit. We see no particular problem in the market at the moment," he told reporters.

Clinton said in China last weekend that she appreciated China's confidence in U.S. debt.

Japan is suffering economic woes of its own, with nosediving exports bringing its worst contraction since the 1970s in the final quarter of 2008.

Speaking with reporters on Monday, Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama said Aso will explain to Obama Tokyo's 75 trillion yen ($840 billion) plan to boost the Japanese economy through fiscal stimulus and financial steps.

Aso's message to Obama will be "we expect the United States to rein in overconsumption while Japan, China and other surplus countries should increase their domestic demand," Kodama said.

Aso "hopes that the prime minister and president will agree on their strong commitment to fight all protectionism," he added.