Text: Adm. Blair Says World on the Offensive Against Terrorism
(Adm. Blair's Feb. 4 CNN interview in Japan) (2130) The world is "on the offense" against terrorists and those who support them, according to the commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Command (CINCPAC). Being on the offensive in the war on terrorism "makes it safer for all Americans that are coming to Japan and other countries," Admiral Dennis Blair said in a February 4 interview with CNN in Japan. Blair cautioned that those who either use terrorist methods or support terrorists "ought to be worrying about their own safety and not worrying about attacking others." In response to a question about the naming of North Korea as part of an "axis of evil," Blair said the military's responsibility is "really the deterrent part of this." To ensure that deterrent capability, the admiral continued, consultations with South Korea "are the most important." Blair said the United States, with its alliance with Japan, has an integrated force structure that counts "on working with Japan to be able to maintain that deterrence." He recalled that North Korea had fired its Taipo Dong missile over Japan. Following is the CINCPAC transcript of the event: (begin text) UNITED STATES PACIFIC COMMAND TRANSCRIPT Adm. Dennis C. Blair Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Command Interview with Rebecca McKinnon, CNN Tokyo Tokyo, Japan February 4, 2002 Question: First of all, one big question as we're looking at the relationship currently between the U.S. and Japan. The war on terrorism. If the U.S. had no bases or virtually no bases here in Japan today, they were all coming from Guam, Hawaii, how would the war on terrorism have been different? Adm. Blair: It would have been slower and not as effective. Some of the forces here in Japan played important roles in the operations against Afghanistan, both Navy forces and Air Force forces, and it was important for them to be able to be here two weeks closer sailing time than the United States. Question: So it would have made a two week difference? Adm. Blair: Right. Question: Would it have made a critical difference, well it would have been slower. Did it change what they were or were not able to do? Adm. Blair: These things are really matters of degree, and faster and more powerful is better than slower and weaker, so it made a difference. Question: Coming to this question a lot of people here in Japan have been asking you about, President Bush's recent speech in which North Korea was named as part of the axis of evil. Before President Bush made this statement, was there any consultation that went on with authorities here in Japan about what kind of impact that kind of statement might have on countries in the region like Japan? Adm. Blair: Yeah. Our part of this dealing with North Korea, those of us in uniform, is really the deterrent part of this. And of course our consultations with South Korea are the most important. We have an alliance and an integrated force structure that we also count on working with Japan to be able to maintain that deterrence. That's to me the more important factor. The North Korean Taipo Dong missile was fired over Japan. Question: There does seem to be a little concern here that perhaps, I mean just speaking to people, you do catch them by surprise a little bit, the characterization, North Korea, part of the evil axis. They're a bit worried, as some other people have mentioned, that it could create a backlash that perhaps a more subtle engagement approach, or at least wait until Bush comes to the region and kind of consults with regional leaders and develops a consensus and then sort of makes its issue with North Korea more forceful. It kind of caught North Korea's most immediate neighborhood by surprise, and perhaps that might not have been the best thing. Adm. Blair: Well, President Bush will be here in a couple of weeks and he'll be consulting with both Japan and South Korea, who in Northeast Asia are our two most important allies, and that's why he's coming, to talk about these things. I think the most important thing about the President's statement is, as opposed to the time before the 11th of September, we the United States and in fact we the world were on the offense against terrorism and those who support them. I can tell you, that makes it safer for all Americans that are coming to Japan and other countries and those who either use terrorist methods of support them or think about them ought to be worrying about their own safety and not worrying about attacking others, innocent citizens like ours. Question: In terms of the U.S./Japan alliance, one got the sense today when you were speaking with the Japanese press that -- and I've gotten the sense more too, that from a U.S. point of view the alliance is in a very good place and the U.S. hopes it will continue pretty much along these lines. A few squeaks here and there, but basically if it continues forever roughly the same that's great. Adm. Blair: Uh huh. Question: There are more questions being raised, certainly within the Japanese public and of course the government about whether that should change. Really where Japan wants to go with this ultimately. Does it really want to be that tied to the United States? Is that your sense of the way it is? Is the United States pretty much happy with the status quo, and Japan a little more uncomfortable with the status quo? Adm. Blair: I think that the continual revalidation of the alliance is important. We're both democracies, countries that have votes like 100 to Question: Another related question. I guess one of the things about the alliance, one of the more philosophical questions, the alliance was of course founded on, as formulated post World War II by McArthur's staff, the idea that Japan was capable of doing a lot of evil and it had to be prevented from doing so with a special constitution that prevented it from developing a military the way all the other countries in the region have militaries. So one kind of gets the sense that while there is, the alliance per se is something I think I get the sense that most Japanese think of course we want to be aligned with the United States. Who else would we be allied with? Yet at the same time it is quite uncomfortable with the fact that the tons of the alliance comes from its history of guilt, comes from this assumption that the Japanese are perhaps more capable of doing bad things than other people in the region which at this point in time seems a bit ludicrous. Why can't Japan have all the things that China or Pakistan or India have? Why should they be considered more likely to do bad things with them than other countries? And yet somehow the alliance, because it's based on this kind of sense of guilt, that's perhaps what grates on people the most. What's your feeling about that? Adm. Blair: I think the attitude towards the alliance are changing with new generations and with new developments in both Japan herself and in the situation in the region. I think the alliance and particularly Japan's role within the alliance will be updated over time. The cry you hear in Japan of we want to be a more normal nation, I think that's the sort of path that you were talking about. So I think it will evolve. I have a feeling that as Japanese security thinking evolves it will have a strong portion of it which will favor a tight alliance with the United States. We have alliances with very mature countries such as the United Kingdom and France and others that are founded on quite different bases that look very similar, U.S. forces stationed in those countries drawing together to do missions in third areas of the world. So I think there's some room for the alliance to adapt based on developments in Japanese security in a way that is healthy and positive and serves Japan's interests. Question: Just a follow-up on that. Could you see potentially, and obviously it depends on what the Japanese want, but could you see potentially a compatibility between a solid alliance and a more normal Japanese military? A military that more resembles other militaries in the region? Adm. Blair: Absolutely. I think that's very possible, in many ways desirable. Question: Why do you think that's desirable? Adm. Blair: Because Japan is a powerful country with a great deal of national pride and they want to play. I think that Japan has learned from reactions of the past and its strong commitment to a new way of operating is permanent and solid and that kind of a Japan can be very much in the interest of both the United States and the region as a whole. Question: Do you think the U.S. can play a role in convincing some of Japan's neighbors who are a little nervous about that process to become more comfortable with it? Adm. Blair: I think Japan's neighbors feel that a Japan that is allied with the U.S. is a good thing. So I think Japan's neighbors favor us being here as Japan itself does. Question: What do you think is least understood about the nature of the relationship? In your talking, in gatherings like today, what's your feeling about what is most understood in the alliance? Adm. Blair: That's a good question. I don't have a quick answer for you. The understanding is very uneven. Those who work closely know a great deal about each other, form personal friendships. Like anything else, I think the misperceptions are mostly by those who don't deal on a day-to-day basis. I had a question today at the press conference expressing a pretty extreme viewpoint about the relationship and I'll bet that's a person who has not been on a U.S. ship here in Japan and has not been to dinner with an American family that lives here. Those who have find that we have a great deal in common and the difference is more interesting than it is challenging. So I think more contact is better. Question: Do you think that some -- and I know you've got to go. I think this is my last question. Do you think this is in a way kind of a holdover of some people who kind of remember the United States as being the occupying victor? If that perception can be truly gotten rid of that a lot of these problems might go away? Adm. Blair: I think there's a lot of historical baggage on both sides in this relationship. But I think the feeling of my father who was on a ship struck by a kamikaze attack is different from my attitude. I have friends, Japanese friends, whose parents were killed at Guadalcanal by American Marines, and I know their attitude is different from their kids' attitude. So I think that the historical relationship is something that's changing. I think education, travel -- My kids lived here in Japan when they were nine and twelve years old. To them the Japanese people are real people. People who have never lived here, Japanese people are what they see on television. I think their attitude is driven by circumstances different by generations. But I think we sort of have to take a step back from it and make your eyes clear and look at the trend, I think that understanding is increasing and I think the hard-eyed, no emotional commitment to working both countries' interests is very thorough, and those who think about clearly know that the United States and Japan ought to stick together because we'll have a great deal to gain. (end text) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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