Kan's scheduled visit to U.S. will proceed, Edano says

TOKYO (Kyodo) - Prime Minister Naoto Kan will proceed with a planned visit to the United States by the end of June, despite the demands of dealing with the ongoing nuclear crisis and the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Tuesday.
The Japanese government, however, has decided to postpone a meeting involving defense and foreign ministers from the two sides which had been scheduled to take place on April 29.
The decision was confirmed during a meeting attended by Edano, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto, Kitazawa told reporters, adding that he has asked government officials to reschedule the bilateral meeting.
Matsumoto told a news conference that it is difficult for Kitazawa to leave Japan when about 100,000 members of the Self-Defense Forces are deployed to engage in disaster-relief efforts.
The foreign minister said, however, that Kan and other Cabinet ministers share the basic view that the so-called two-plus-two ministerial meeting should be held soon.
The foreign and defense ministerial meeting is aimed at laying the groundwork for the forthcoming summit talks, in which Japan and the United States are trying to release a joint statement on their long-standing security alliance.
Kan and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed in November that they will hold talks in the United States during the first half of this year.
Edano, the top government spokesman, told a news conference that Kan's schedule of visiting the United States by the end of June ''completely remains unchanged.''
Edano added that the importance of Japan-U.S. alliance was reconfirmed in the wake of the twin natural disasters.