President Barack Obama (L) looks on as he holds a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (Credit: CBS)
President Obama’s travels to Japan to meet with the key leaders hit a brick wall Wednesday after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed anger over the death of a Japanese woman and the subsequent arrest of a U.S. Marine for the alleged killing.
Only hours after Obama’s Air Force One touched down in Japan, Abe said, through an interpreter he had “profound resentment” about what he called an “absolutely despicable crime,” and had expressed as such to the president, the Hill reported.
The comments referred to the death of a Japanese woman and the arrest of a Marine working at a military base in Okinawa just a few days ago, on charges related to what investigators were describing as her killing. The Marine hasn’t been convicted of any crime; few details are known about the investigation so far.
Abe spent almost the whole meeting with Obama scolding the United States and discussing the incident, which has reignited long-running disputes about America’s presence in the country, post-World War II days.
Voice of America reported Abe also told Obama, “I’m just speechless” and that “the entire Japan is deeply shocked by this latest incident.”
Obama, for his part, said the killing “has shaken up people in Okinawa as well as people throughout Japan,” and promised full United States cooperation with the investigation.
He also “extended my sincerest condolences and deepest regrets” to Abe, the Hill reported.
“We consider it inexcusable and we are committed to doing everything that we can to prevent any crimes from taking place of this sort,” Obama said, the Hill reported.
Japan’s civilian population has been expressing anger over what they perceive is the unnecessary U.S. military presence in their country for years, particularly after crimes by Americans have influenced the locals. But at least one foreign-affairs watcher, Masaaki Gabe, professor of international relations at the University of Ryukyus, suspected Abe of putting on a political show.
“I don’t expect anything” to come from the Abe-Obama exchange over Okinawa,” Gabe said.
from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2016/05/25/japan-pm-scolds-obama-for-despicable-crime-in-okinawa/
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