[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 19 (Thursday, February 13, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E254]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           UNITED STATES-JAPAN SECURITY RELATIONS AND OKINAWA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. LEE H. HAMILTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 13, 1997

  Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased on behalf of myself and 
Representatives Bereuter, and Berman, to introduce a resolution 
recognizing the vital role of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and 
Security between the United States and Japan in ensuring the peace and 
prosperity of the Asia Pacific region, and expressing gratitude to the 
people of Okinawa for the special role they have played in ensuring the 
implementation of this treaty.
  My friend and colleague, William V. Roth, Jr., is introducing a 
similar resolution in the other body today.
  I agree with former Member of this House, and former U.S. Ambassador 
to Japan, Mike Mansfield, who called the relationship between the 
United States and Japan ``the most important bilateral relationship in 
the world, bar none.'' The end of the cold war and resulting 
instability in Asia has only reinforced the fundamental importance of 
this relationship to our two nations, the Asia-Pacific region, and the 
world as a whole.
  Indeed, as Secretary of State Madeline Albright stated to the House 
International Relations Committee this week, ``our alliance with a 
democratic and prosperous Japan is one of the great successes of the 
postwar era.'' Our security alliance has endured over the years, and 
remains strong today, because the United States and Japan are united 
not by a common enemy, but rather, by common interests.
  In the formulation of former Assistant Secretary of Defense Joseph S. 
Nye, security is like oxygen. You tend not to notice it until you begin 
to lose it. Once you lose it, you would pay any price to have it back.
  The alliance between the United States and Japan provides the oxygen 
which allows the economies and societies of the Asia-Pacific region to 
thrive. It rightly remains the foundation of American security strategy 
for the Asia-Pacific region. The United States, as a Pacific power, and 
world's leading exporter, gains more than any nation from the region's 
peace and prosperity.
  The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security encapsulates the terms 
of the bilateral alliance. This past December, the United States and 
Japan agreed to measures to renew our security relationship in the 
Special Action Committee on Okinawa [SACO] Final Report issued by the 
United States-Japan Security Consultative Committee. This report set 
forth a timetable for return to Japanese control of one-fifth of the 
land used by the U.S. military in Okinawa. This island prefecture, as 
host to over half of the forward-deployed troops of the United States 
in Japan, has long borne a major share of the burdens of maintaining 
regional security.
  The SACO Final Report therefore also provided for changes in 
operational and training procedures and in the Status of Forces 
Agreement which will maintain the operational capability and readiness 
of forward-deployed U.S. forces while lessening the impact of the U.S. 
military presence on the daily life of the Okinawan people.
  For centuries Okinawa has been known as the Land of Courtesy. The 
Okinawan people deserve our gratitude for their many contributions to 
the United States-Japan relationship, and to the peace and security of 
the region. Their continued understanding and support are vital to the 
successful implementation of the SACO Final Report, and the Mutual 
Security Treaty.
  Mr. Speaker, the resolution I introduce today reaffirms that the 
Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security remains vital to the security 
interests of the United States, Japan, and the countries of the Asia-
Pacific region. It acknowledges the achievement of the United States 
and Japanese Governments in reinvigorating the alliance through the 
SACO Final Report. It also recognizes the special contributions of the 
people of Okinawa, to the implementation of the Treaty.
  Mr. Speaker, in view of the critical importance to the United States 
of our relationship with Japan, I urge my colleagues to join me in 
passing this resolution.

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