JAPAN/USA: U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell apologizes for his staff diplomat's controversial comments on Okinawans

Record ID: 465298

  • Title: JAPAN/USA: U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell apologizes for his staff diplomat's controversial comments on Okinawans
  • Date: 10th March 2011
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (MARCH 9, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MIYAGI'S TWITTER PAGE
  • Embargoed: 25th March 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa, Japan
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA2HQS6XS7YU907BVJ97NDVTQSM
  • Story Text: U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell on Wednesday (March 9) apologized to the Japanese people and especially those of the southern islands of Okinawa for the controversial comments made by his staff diplomat Kelvin Maher towards them in an off-the-record speech to students in the United States last year.
    "I'll also, in all of my meetings, offer deep apologies for the developments in Okinawa and for the misunderstandings that have taken place. I think as you all know the alleged statements in no way reflect U.S. government policy or indeed the deep feelings of the American people towards the people of Okinawa," Campbell told Japanese reporters only minutes after he landed in Tokyo.
    Kyodo news agency quoted Kevin Maher, a former U.S. consul general in Okinawa and now head of the Japan affairs office at the State Department, as saying in a speech last year that surfaced this week, that Okinawans were masters of "manipulation" and "extortion."
    He was also quoted as saying the islanders were too lazy to produce enough of their own bitter gourd, the main ingredient in the island's many signature local dishes.
    Critics in Japan have also charged that Okinawan residents use the U.S. base issue to pry economic aid from Japan's central government, but Maher's reported remarks have sparked outrage in Okinawa, reluctant host to about half the U.S. forces in Japan and one of the country's poorest regions.
    "We're very grateful for all Okinawans' do for the United States and Americans that live there. We're deeply saddened by this recent development, and I will, in all of my meetings, express deep regret for the misunderstandings that taken place. These statements not only reflect my own personal attitudes but the attitudes of American government," Campbell added.
    In an interview with TV Tokyo one of the Japanese-American college students of Okinawan descent who had attended Maher's speech in late December, said he and his fellow students had been shocked at the diplomat's language.
    "The language that Mr. Maher used such as 'lazy' or calling the Japanese culture 'one of extortion,' American University student Torii Miyagi told TV Tokyo.
    "Many students were very surprised that Mr. Maher used such strong language. I think we were all surprised that it came from a diplomat," Miyagi added.
    Okinawa's assembly voted to censure Maher and lodge an official complaint. Some of Okinawa's residents say they are saddened by the diplomat's remarks.
    "He's obviously belittling us," one woman, who was not identified, told TV Tokyo on Tuesday after the report became top national news in Japan.
    "It shows how they were thinking about us. I feel sad," another man said.
    Ties between Tokyo and its close security ally, Washington, frayed after Naoto Kan's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) took office last year and then-Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama sought to keep a pledge to move the U.S. Marines' Futenma airbase off Okinawa, host to about half of the nearly 50,000 U.S. forces in Japan.
    Japan and the United States agreed in May, however, to stick to a 2006 deal to keep the base on the island while moving it to a less populous area, only to raise a bigger stir and anger among Okinawan residents.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Video restrictions: parts of this video may require additional clearances. Please see ‘Business Notes’ for more information.
Register