Among leaders at summit, Hu's first By Al Kamen, Wednesday, April 14, 2010
By far the biggest loser of the extravaganza was the hapless and (in the opinion of some Obama administration officials) increasingly loopy Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. He reportedly requested but got no bilat. The only consolation prize was that he got an "unofficial" meeting during Monday night's working dinner. Maybe somewhere between the main course and dessert? (数人のオバマ政権の高官の意見では「ますます頭がおかしくなっている」という日本の鳩山総理大臣は、今回の派手な祭典における最大の敗北者だ。報道によると、彼は(オバマ大統領との)1対1の首脳会議を要求したが実現しなかった。彼が得た唯一の慰めは、夕食での「非公式な」会談だった。おそらくメインコースとデザートの間のどこかの段階で行われたのだろう。)
A rich man's son, Hatoyama has impressed Obama administration officials with his unreliability on a major issue dividing Japan and the United States: the future of a Marine Corps air station in Okinawa. Hatoyama promised Obama twice that he'd solve the issue. According to a long-standing agreement with Japan, the Futenma air base is supposed to be moved to an isolated part of Okinawa. (It now sits in the middle of a city of more than 80,000.) (オバマ政権の高官の間では、この金持ちの息子がいかに信頼できないかという点で印象強い。鳩山は沖縄基地問題について2度も約束している。長年の協議によって、普天間基地は沖縄の人里離れた場所へ移設することが決まっていた。)
But Hatoyama's party, the Democratic Party of Japan, said it wanted to reexamine the agreement and to propose a different plan. It is supposed to do that by May. So far, nothing has come in over the transom. Uh, Yukio, you're supposed to be an ally, remember? Saved you countless billions with that expensive U.S. nuclear umbrella? Still buy Toyotas and such? (しかし鳩山政権は、既に合意した計画を見直したいと言い出したのだ。こんな一方的なものは過去に例がない。おいユキオ、お前は我々の同盟国だったはずだぞ?覚えてるか?お前たちのために何億費やしたか分かってるのか?それでもトヨタを買えと言うのか?)
Meanwhile, who did give Hatoyama some love at the nuclear summit? Hu did. Yes, China's president met privately with the Japanese prime minister on Monday. (核サミットで鳩山に愛を与えたのは誰だろう?中国の胡錦涛国家主席だ。中国の国家主席は月曜日に日本の総理大臣に非公開で面会した。)