ID :
175961
Sun, 04/17/2011 - 17:34
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/175961
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Japan, U.S. reaffirm cooperation in tackling Fukushima nuke crisis
TOKYO, April 17 Kyodo - Japan and the United States reaffirmed Sunday their cooperation in efforts to contain the ongoing nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power station triggered by the March 11 quake and tsunami, as the plant operator unveiled a plan to bring the troubled reactors to a stable condition within six to nine months.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan explained to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the recovery roadmap presented by Tokyo Electric Power Co. and said Japan is ''responsible for sharing lessons from the still-unfolding accident with the international community and making use of them,'' Japanese officials said.
Clinton said Washington will work closely with Tokyo in coping with the Fukushima crisis, which is now rated as the world's worst nuclear disaster together with the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe. The United States has dispatched to Japan nuclear experts and items to tackle the contingency.
The utility known as TEPCO said Sunday that it aims to bring the damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant to a stable condition known as a ''cold shutdown'' in about six to nine months, while restoring stable cooling to the reactors and spent fuel pools in about three months.
Kan thanked Clinton for ''utmost support'' from the United States to disaster-hit Japan and told her, ''We will never forget U.S. assistance.'' The top U.S. diplomat expressed confidence that Japan will rebuild itself and serve as a major global economic power over decades to come.
Clinton earlier met with her Japanese counterpart Takeaki Matsumoto and pledged at a subsequent joint press conference ''steadfast support'' for Japan in the process of rebuilding the nation from what she described as ''a multidimensional crisis of unprecedented scope.''
Matsumoto vowed that Tokyo will ''make all-out efforts to move steadily toward the settlement'' of the Fukushima crisis with support from the United States and said that Tokyo and Washington will work together to strengthen and improve measures to ensure the safety of nuclear power generation.
He added Japan will continue to ''fully disclose'' information to the international community on its battle to contain the emergency.
Clinton said U.S. nuclear experts ''have been very supportive of what Japan is doing to take the appropriate steps'' and will analyze the TEPCO restoration plan on a request to do so by Matsumoto.
Matsumoto and Clinton also agreed to set up a new public-private initiative involving governments, economic circles, think tanks and nongovernmental organizations of the two countries to back the reconstruction process in Japan.
Delivering a message of ''solidarity and shared hope,'' Clinton told the news conference that through the new initiative, ''We wish to enhance cooperation between Japan and American businesses, between civil society groups, public officials'' under the guidance of the Japanese government.
Thomas Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, stressed that it is ''in the interest of the American business community to see that the Japanese economic engine is running at peak performance as quickly as possible.''
''We stand ready to work with our Japanese friends to accelerate the recovery and strengthen their economy,'' he said.
Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of the Japanese Business Federation, known as Nippon Keidanren, said Japan's business sector has raised over 60 billion yen in donations and relief supplies and that it will consult with U.S. business representatives on specific ways to assist the rebuilding efforts.
Donohue and Yonekura discussed the public-private partnership with Matsumoto and Clinton following their official talks.
Matsumoto welcomed the recent U.S. decision to ease its travel advisory on Japan as a ''positive message for the Japanese economy,'' while Clinton said one of the purposes of her Japan visit was to demonstrate to U.S. citizens that the Asian country is now open for business travelers and tourists, the Japanese officials said.
''The State Department lifted a travel advisory for all parts of Japan, except the 50-mile (about 80-kilometer) radius from the nuclear plant. We have encouraged businesses and other Americans to go on with their normal lives, and to travel to Japan for business or other reasons,'' Clinton said at the news conference.
The United States had urged its nationals to defer nonessential travel to regions including Tokyo and its vicinities but relaxed its advisory on the grounds that efforts to control the crisis are going well.
Matsumoto and Clinton also reaffirmed the strength of the bilateral security alliance.
The foreign minister said Japanese people were ''very encouraged by the U.S. military presence in Japan'' after the disasters. Clinton noted the alliance ''lives in our hearts'' and that the United States responded ''not simply as allies and partners but in a deeper sense as friends.''
Washington mobilized more than 20,000 personnel, around 160 aircraft and 20 vessels from the U.S. military for relief activities under Operation Tomodachi, named after the Japanese word for friend.
Matsumoto said the two countries will try to hold at an early date a meeting of their foreign and defense ministers to discuss renewed common strategic goals as a way of deepening the alliance, before Kan's trip to the United States slated for late June.
The so-called ''two-plus-two'' meeting was originally arranged for April 29, but was postponed as Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa cannot leave the country to engage in disaster relief efforts.
Matsumoto said Tokyo will implement its accord with Washington struck in May last year to move a U.S. Marine base within Okinawa. He also told Clinton that Japan has been making efforts despite the disasters to reach an early conclusion on the signing of an international treaty that deals with cross-border child custody disputes.
As Japan has yet to join the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which sets procedures for resolving child custody cases in failed international marriages, non-Japanese cannot see their children if their Japanese spouse takes them to Japan from the country where the family has been living.
Clinton attended a tea party hosted by Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko before winding up her half-day trip to Tokyo.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan explained to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the recovery roadmap presented by Tokyo Electric Power Co. and said Japan is ''responsible for sharing lessons from the still-unfolding accident with the international community and making use of them,'' Japanese officials said.
Clinton said Washington will work closely with Tokyo in coping with the Fukushima crisis, which is now rated as the world's worst nuclear disaster together with the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe. The United States has dispatched to Japan nuclear experts and items to tackle the contingency.
The utility known as TEPCO said Sunday that it aims to bring the damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant to a stable condition known as a ''cold shutdown'' in about six to nine months, while restoring stable cooling to the reactors and spent fuel pools in about three months.
Kan thanked Clinton for ''utmost support'' from the United States to disaster-hit Japan and told her, ''We will never forget U.S. assistance.'' The top U.S. diplomat expressed confidence that Japan will rebuild itself and serve as a major global economic power over decades to come.
Clinton earlier met with her Japanese counterpart Takeaki Matsumoto and pledged at a subsequent joint press conference ''steadfast support'' for Japan in the process of rebuilding the nation from what she described as ''a multidimensional crisis of unprecedented scope.''
Matsumoto vowed that Tokyo will ''make all-out efforts to move steadily toward the settlement'' of the Fukushima crisis with support from the United States and said that Tokyo and Washington will work together to strengthen and improve measures to ensure the safety of nuclear power generation.
He added Japan will continue to ''fully disclose'' information to the international community on its battle to contain the emergency.
Clinton said U.S. nuclear experts ''have been very supportive of what Japan is doing to take the appropriate steps'' and will analyze the TEPCO restoration plan on a request to do so by Matsumoto.
Matsumoto and Clinton also agreed to set up a new public-private initiative involving governments, economic circles, think tanks and nongovernmental organizations of the two countries to back the reconstruction process in Japan.
Delivering a message of ''solidarity and shared hope,'' Clinton told the news conference that through the new initiative, ''We wish to enhance cooperation between Japan and American businesses, between civil society groups, public officials'' under the guidance of the Japanese government.
Thomas Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, stressed that it is ''in the interest of the American business community to see that the Japanese economic engine is running at peak performance as quickly as possible.''
''We stand ready to work with our Japanese friends to accelerate the recovery and strengthen their economy,'' he said.
Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of the Japanese Business Federation, known as Nippon Keidanren, said Japan's business sector has raised over 60 billion yen in donations and relief supplies and that it will consult with U.S. business representatives on specific ways to assist the rebuilding efforts.
Donohue and Yonekura discussed the public-private partnership with Matsumoto and Clinton following their official talks.
Matsumoto welcomed the recent U.S. decision to ease its travel advisory on Japan as a ''positive message for the Japanese economy,'' while Clinton said one of the purposes of her Japan visit was to demonstrate to U.S. citizens that the Asian country is now open for business travelers and tourists, the Japanese officials said.
''The State Department lifted a travel advisory for all parts of Japan, except the 50-mile (about 80-kilometer) radius from the nuclear plant. We have encouraged businesses and other Americans to go on with their normal lives, and to travel to Japan for business or other reasons,'' Clinton said at the news conference.
The United States had urged its nationals to defer nonessential travel to regions including Tokyo and its vicinities but relaxed its advisory on the grounds that efforts to control the crisis are going well.
Matsumoto and Clinton also reaffirmed the strength of the bilateral security alliance.
The foreign minister said Japanese people were ''very encouraged by the U.S. military presence in Japan'' after the disasters. Clinton noted the alliance ''lives in our hearts'' and that the United States responded ''not simply as allies and partners but in a deeper sense as friends.''
Washington mobilized more than 20,000 personnel, around 160 aircraft and 20 vessels from the U.S. military for relief activities under Operation Tomodachi, named after the Japanese word for friend.
Matsumoto said the two countries will try to hold at an early date a meeting of their foreign and defense ministers to discuss renewed common strategic goals as a way of deepening the alliance, before Kan's trip to the United States slated for late June.
The so-called ''two-plus-two'' meeting was originally arranged for April 29, but was postponed as Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa cannot leave the country to engage in disaster relief efforts.
Matsumoto said Tokyo will implement its accord with Washington struck in May last year to move a U.S. Marine base within Okinawa. He also told Clinton that Japan has been making efforts despite the disasters to reach an early conclusion on the signing of an international treaty that deals with cross-border child custody disputes.
As Japan has yet to join the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which sets procedures for resolving child custody cases in failed international marriages, non-Japanese cannot see their children if their Japanese spouse takes them to Japan from the country where the family has been living.
Clinton attended a tea party hosted by Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko before winding up her half-day trip to Tokyo.
