Armitage: Bush considering visiting Japan in October
( 2001-05-08 18:47 ) (7 )

US President George W. Bush is considering visiting Japan in October on his way to an Asia-Pacific summit in China, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in Tokyo Tuesday.

Armitage, who arrived in Tokyo Monday on a three-day visit to brief the government on Bush's anti-missile shield proposal, made the remarks when he met with Japan's senior vice foreign ministers, Shigeo Uetake and Seiken Sugiura, according to a Japanese foreign ministry official.

Bush is scheduled to attend an annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum opening in Shanghai, China, on October 20.

The last visit to Japan by a US president was when Bill Clinton attended a Group-of-Eight (G8) summit in Okinawa last July.

Armitage will leave for Seoul on Wednesday and later go on to India primarily to brief leaders there on the missile defence proposal.

In a separate meeting, Armitage told Japan's deputy foreign minister, Ryozo Kato, that Bush's plan would in no way change joint US-Japan research on theater missile defence (TMD), the official said.

Last week Bush vowed to deploy a shield against ballistic missile attacks by so-called "rogue states" like Iraq and North Korea and to replace a 1972 Cold War treaty that bars such defenses.

In a speech at the National Defense University, Bush also said he favored unilateral cuts in the US nuclear arsenal, a proposition widely seen as a bid to mollify Moscow.

China has expressed its concern that an anti-missile defense shield would spark a new arms race and threaten world peace. Russian President Vladimir Putin has opposed the abolition of the ABM treaty.

Kato told Armitage Japan understood US studies on anti-missile defence and welcomed Bush's pledge to try and reduce US nuclear arsenal, the Japanese official said.

Armitage was quoted as telling Kato that regardless of the outcome of the current studies, there would be no change in joint technological research between the United States and Japan on TMD.

Since 1999, Japan has been taking part in research on a missile capable of shooting down a missile coming from outside the atmosphere.