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Clinton hails US-Japan

ties as cornerstone

of Asian stability

TOKYO: Standing before the parliament, President Clinton hailed US, Japanese security ties on Thursday as the cornerstone of stability in Asia. He warned that an American pullback from the region could spark a costly arms race that could destabilise northeast Asia.''

The president said there are people in both the United States and Japan who believe America should withdraw from its global leadership role in the aftermath of the Cold War.

I believe those views are wrong, he declared, saying the United States and Japan should continue to lead and work together as allies, as partners, and as friends.''

Clinton was only the second American president ever to address the Japanese Diet. Ronald Reagan was the first in 1983.

Clinton's address, stressing security and economic themes, wrapped up a three-day state visit to Japan. Later in the day the president was flying to Russia for a four-day stay.

Clinton noted that the United States and Japan still have sharp trade frictions aggravated by Tokyo's $59 billion trade surplus with Washington.

But the important part is that after years of frustration on both sides, for the first time we have actually established a way to work through our differences and to resolve them, the president said.

On the security front, Clinton said Japan's hospitality to American troops was put to a terrible test in Okinawa by the rape of a schoolgirl by three American servicemen, later convicted and imprisoned for the crime.

US President Bill Clinton apologised to both the houses of the Japanese parliament on Thursday for last year's rape of 12-year-old schoolgirl by three American servicemen in Okinawa. But Clinton received rousing applause by acknowledging that the incident had prompted "something we should have done a long time ago", namely consolidating bases in Okinawa and reducing the inconveniences associated with them.

Under an agreement reached on Monday, the United States agreed to return about 20 percent of the land occupied by the US military in Okinawa, the southern island which has been the theatre of major protests following the September rape.-AFP