Page 2 - aruba-today-20161217

A2 UP FRONT
Saturday 17 december 2016

Carter: US will remain key to anti-IS coalition Japan, Russia agree over economic

ROBERT BURNS “We’re dealing here with “We’ll need to continue to ties; stalemate on territory dispute
AP National Security Writer a global threat,” he said. counter not only foreign MARI YAMAGUCHI
LONDON (AP) — U.S. De- “I have no doubt the next fighters trying to escape, Associated Press
fense Secretary Ash Cart- administration will step up but also ISIL’s attempts to TOKYO (AP) — Russia and Japan agreed Friday to
er and his British counter- to its traditional role” as a relocate or reinvent itself,” hold talks on joint economic development of four is-
part expressed confidence world leader, Fallon said. he said. “To do so, both lands at the center of a decades-old territorial dispute
this week that the Trump The meeting took place the United States and the between the countries.
administration will continue against the backdrop of coalition must remain en- It was a small step forward that fell far short of break-
America’s role as leader questions about what Don- gaged militarily. In Iraq in ing the stalemate in a dispute that has prevented Rus-
of the international military ald Trump’s arrival in the particular, we must be pre- sia and Japan from signing a peace treaty formally
coalition against the Islam- White House next month pared to provide sustained ending their World War II hostilities.
ic State group. will mean for the coali- assistance to the Iraqi se- Joint development “would help foster trust toward a
“I do have confidence in tion’s future. Closing out a curity forces to consolidate peace treaty,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said
the future of the coalition nearly two-week overseas security over the rest of at a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister
campaign,” whose cen- trip that included a stop the country.” The U.S. has Shinzo Abe after two days of meetings in Japan.
tral premise is that local in Iraq, Carter met with his about 5,000 troops in Iraq. Asked about developments in Syria, Putin said he and
forces must do the fighting, counterparts and got an But the backdrop to Thurs- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are working
with support from the co- update from Army Gen. day’s conference was to launch a new round of peace talks in Astana, the
alition, Carter said during Joseph Votel on the bat- deep uncertainty in Lon- capital of Kazakhstan.
For Putin, the summit meeting was his first official visit
to a G-7 country since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
Abe, eager for progress on the territorial issue, invited
Putin even though Japan and the other G-7 nations
still have sanctions on Russia.
The dispute centers on four southern Kuril islands, which
Japan calls the Northern Territories. The former Soviet
Union took the islands in the closing days of World War
II, expelling 17,000 Japanese to nearby Hokkaido, the
northernmost of Japan’s four main islands.
Abe said Friday that he has his own idea of what is
right for the islands, as does Putin.
“If we just insist on our own justice, we can never re-
solve the problem,” he said. “We must make an effort
to open a new future in Japan-Russia relations for the
new generation.”
Putin said he did not know how the dispute could be
resolved, but that the islands should be seen not as
a point of contention but “a place that brings Japan
and Russia together.”
Former island resident Koichi Iwata, 87, told Japanese
public broadcaster NHK that change won’t come
easily.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter speaks at the start of his press conference with Britain’s De- “We are different people. We lost the war, and we
fence Secretary Michael Fallon at the end of a summit with defense ministers from the coalition feel that we were taken advantage of,” he said. “But
of countries fighting Islamic State forces, at the Foreign Office in London, Thursday Dec. 15, 2016. there is hope. They say win-win, which means that it is
(AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
good for both peoples, right?”
In a statement, Japan and Russia said they will explore
a news conference Thrus- tles to retake Mosul, the don, Berlin and other coali- joint projects in fisheries, tourism, health and environ-
day. “It’s logical. It makes Islamic State’s key strong- tion capitals about the im- ment on the disputed islands, though details are yet to
sense,” he said, adding hold in Iraq, and Raqqa, plications for the counter-IS be worked out.
that he believes that logic the self-declared IS capi- efforts of a change in U.S. An agreement on joint economic development is far
“will recommend itself” to tal in Syria. As head of U.S. administrations in Janu- from a given because of the dispute over sovereignty.
the Trump administration. Central Command, Votel is ary. Trump has criticized Similar ideas in the past have failed because of that.
Speaking after a meet- the top officer overseeing President Barack Obama’s Russia says any development should be governed
ing of 15 core members of the counter-IS campaign in approach to fighting the by Russian laws, while Japan is pushing for a special
the anti-IS coalition, Cart- Syria and Iraq. The defense militant group as weak framework that in Abe’s words would not “infringe on
er said he intends to share officials also discussed do- and ineffective, and he the sovereignty positions of either side.”
his views on this with his ing more to train and equip has suggested that the U.S. “It’s a huge problem,” said James Brown, a Japan-
successor, who is expected the kinds of local Iraq and has blindly supported anti- Russia expert at Temple University’s Japan campus in
to be retired Marine Gen. Syrian forces, including po- IS groups without knowing Tokyo. “There is every chance it will never happen.”
James Mattis. “Among my lice and tribal fighters, that their true aims. The two countries also exchanged a number of broad-
recommendations will be will be needed to hold Mo- Among the questions Cart- er economic, cultural, science and sports coopera-
the need for the United sul and Raqqa once, as ex- er cannot answer: Will tion agreements.
States to remain actively pected, the Islamic State is Trump withdraw support for Russia wants to attract Japanese investment, and Ja-
engaged as leader of this uprooted from those cities. U.S.-backed rebels groups pan hopes that stronger ties through joint economic
coalition,” Carter said. IS has held those centers for in Syria, who have now lost projects will help resolve the thorny territorial issue over
“Our coalition can and, I’m more than two years. the city of Aleppo? And if time.
confident, will finish this job Carter said at the meet- he does, will he join forces Putin said Japanese involvement will be crucial to de-
together.” ing’s outset that the coali- with Russia? How might velopment of Russia’s far east.
The British defense minister, tion must remain involved such moves affect public “Russia and Japan haven’t had very much economic
Michael Fallon, speaking in Iraq even after the Is- support for the anti-IS coali- cooperation,” Putin said earlier Friday. “It is necessary
alongside Carter, echoed lamic State is driven from tion in Germany and else- to expand the potential of our economic ties.”q
his view. Mosul. where? q