Diet panel chief to reject gov`t denial of secret Japan-U.S. pact

TOKYO, July 13 Kyodo -
The chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee said
Monday he will stop committee deliberations if the government continues to make
what he calls ''false'' statements denying the existence of a secret Japan-U.S.
pact under which Tokyo has given tacit approval for nuclear-armed U.S. military
ships to make stopovers in Japan.
Taro Kono, a key lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, also called
for a committee resolution to urge the government to correct its past remarks
in parliament denying the existence of the deal, but senior government
officials did not show any change in their stance.
Such a resolution should be adopted so that the government can no longer
persist with its argument on the matter even after the chairman of the
committee changes as a result of the imminent dissolution of the lower house,
Kono told reporters.
Given that Prime Minister Taro Aso is willing to dissolve the lower house next
week for a general election and considering other factors, Kono admitted that
adopting such a resolution ''may be somewhat difficult.''
No issues are currently being deliberated by the Foreign Affairs Committee and
the schedule for the next committee meeting has not been set yet.
Kono said that he has met with ''more than one person who was in a position to
know'' about the secret deal, including former Vice Foreign Minister Ryohei
Murata, who in various media interviews has testified to the existence of the
pact.
Noting the ''extremely high credibility'' of such remarks, Kono also said, ''As
the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee...I will not allow the government
to repeat its past answers. If the government sticks to the answers, the
Foreign Affairs Committee will stop (deliberations).''
Kono also said that urging the correction of past remarks is not aimed at
pursuing whoever was responsible in the matter or going into details about the
secret pact, but at paving the way for ''proper discussions'' in Japan on how
the country, protected under the U.S. nuclear umbrella, should deal with North
Korea's nuclear threat.
Despite Kono's remarks, Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka again denied the
existence of the deal, telling a press conference that the government's
position remains unchanged.
Under the secret deal, which the two countries agreed on in revising the
Japan-U.S. security treaty in 1960, Tokyo would give tacit approval for
stopovers by U.S. military aircraft or vessels carrying nuclear weapons,
although the treaty stipulates the need for Washington to hold prior
consultations with Tokyo before bringing nuclear weapons into Japan.
Publicly, the Japanese government upholds the ''three nonnuclear principles''
of not possessing, producing or allowing nuclear weapons on its territory and
has consistently denied the existence of such a secret deal with the United
States.
==Kyodo