WASHINGTON — A top aide to President Barack Obama on Monday predicted a smoother relationship with Japan as Naoto Kan takes over as prime minister, admitting the United States had concerns about his predecessor.
Jeffrey Bader, the National Security Council's director for Asian affairs, vigorously defended Obama's treatment of outgoing prime minister Yukio Hatoyama after widespread worries about the half-century old alliance between the two countries.
Hatoyama led the center-left Democratic Party of Japan as it ousted the long-ruling conservatives in August elections but tearfully quit last week after reneging on a promise to move an unpopular US base off Okinawa island.
"I have every reason to expect that Mr. Kan will pick up where the cabinet has left off in the last two months and that we won't find ourselves back in some of the difficult times we had last September and October," Bader said.
Bader, who was addressing the Stimson Center think tank, said Obama was encouraged by his phone conversation Saturday with Kan and the new prime minister's pledge at a news conference to honor the deal on the Futenma base.
