TOKYO, 15 November 2003 — US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denied the US-led coalition on Iraq was in trouble yesterday as he met with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi who appeared to backtrack on a pledge to send troops.
Koizumi said that Japan strongly supports Iraq’s reconstruction as a “good cause” but made no mention of whether his government intends to send troops there, a senior US official said. “Japan supported the start of the war in Iraq and Japan intends to do what it can regarding Iraq’s reconstruction,” Koizumi told Rumsfeld, according to a Japanese briefer. Koizumi met with Rumsfeld here only a day after his chief cabinet secretary backed away from an apparent decision to send Japanese troops to Iraq this year, declaring after an attack on an Italian contingent the time was not right.
Rumsfeld shrugged off the reversal, telling reporters on the flight here from Guam that the coalition was not in trouble and that every country should make its own judgments on whether and when to send troops to Iraq.
A senior US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Koizumi did not raise the statement on troops by his Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda in his 45-minute meeting with Rumsfeld, and Rumsfeld did not ask about it. Koizumi instead emphasized that Iraq’s reconstruction was a “good cause” that Japan supported and said ways should be found to make it better understood in Iraq and in the international community, said the official.
Although they discussed other security issues, such as a US review of its force deployment around the world, Okinawa and missile defense, Iraq “was the lead topic,” said another senior US official. “The prime minister was very determined to let us know how he felt,” he said.
Meanwhile, about 1,000 protesters marched through Tokyo toward the US Embassy, chanting “Rumsfeld, not welcome you” an “Axis of lies.” A cordon of police stopped them about 500 meters from the embassy.
“We want to show the people that we are opposed to the war in Iraq and opposed to the visit of Mr. Rumsfeld,” said Kimiyo Yoshida, a leader of the Workers Union at the Japanese Foreign Ministry. Hours before Rumsfeld’s arrival, Tokyo sought to emphasize its commitment to Iraqi reconstruction, including an eventual dispatch of troops to take part in humanitarian assistance, while sidestepping the crucial issue of timing. Japan has pledged $1.5 billion in grants in 2004 to Iraq, and another $3.5 billion in soft loans over the next three years. But sending troops abroad is a highly sensitive issue for a country bound by a pacifist constitution.
forces,” he added.
