Press Releases
January 11, 2010
House Leaders Send Letter to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama On Military Realignment
House leaders on January 7, 2010, sent a letter to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of Japan expressing their continued support of the Guam International Agreement signed on February 17, 2009 by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and then-Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone. Congresswoman Bordallo was joined on the letter by Congressman Ike Skelton, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee; Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon, Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee; Congressman Howard Berman, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Congressman Eni Faleomavaega, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment.
“The letter sent to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama expresses Congress’s continued support of the Guam International Agreement and for the strategic value of the realignment of military forces in Japan and the Western Pacific,” Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo said today. “Prime Minister Hatoyama has voiced concerns regarding the proposed plans for the replacement of Futenma Marine Air Base in Okinawa, and we believe that his concerns can be addressed within the existing framework of the Guam International Agreement. We believe that it is important for the U.S. and Japanese governments to reach consensus on the question of the Futenma replacement facility and that the Guam International Agreement be implemented in a timely manner. The FRF issue has the potential to unravel the agreement and to reverse the progress that has been achieved in realigning forces in Japan.”