Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Financial Times
February 25, 2008
The Pentagon has not seriously considered the possibility of selling the F-22 stealth fighter to Japan despite a high-level request from Tokyo last year, Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, said yesterday.
Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese prime minister, last year told President George W. Bush that Tokyo was interested in buying the sophisticated fighter, also known as the Raptor. Japanese officials were hoping the Pentagon would take the lead in urging Congress to overturn a law that bars sales of the aircraft to foreign countries.
However, speaking to reporters in Australia, Mr Gates conceded that the Pentagon had not been proactive in considering the Japanese request.
The Japanese government is expected to choose a replacement fighter for its ageing fleet of F-4 Phantoms this year. The air force favours Lockheed's F-22 but Tokyo is also considering the Lockheed-led Joint Strike Fighter, Boeing's F-15 and F-18, and BAE's Eurofighter Typhoon.
On Saturday Joel Fitzgibbon, the Australian defence minister, said Canberra was also interested in buying the Raptor. Mr Gates said he would look into the issue when he returned to Washington, but added he was not optimistic.
Mr Gates is the most senior US official to visit Australia since the new Labor government of Kevin Rudd, the prime minister, took office in November. One senior defence official said his trip to Asia, which will include Indonesia and India, was partly aimed at reaffirming US commitment to the region at a time when Washington's allies in Asia believe it has "lost focus".
At a press conference with Mr Gates on Saturday, Stephen Smith, the Australian foreign minister, urged Washington to have a constructive relationship with Beijing. He rejected suggestions that Australia's growing economic ties with China would complicate its security relationship with the US.
"We can have a very good economic relationship with China which doesn't adversely impact on our relationship with the US," he said. "On the contrary, we encourage the US to have a positive and constructive relationship with China."
The US-Australia bilateral talks come as Canberra strengthens its economic ties with China, its largest trading partner, and ahead of a visit by Mr Rudd to Beijing to discuss both countries' long-term strategic goals.
Allan Gyngell of the Lowy Institute, a think-tank, pointed out that, for the first time in Australian history, its big economic partner was not also its strategic ally.
"It is much more complicated for Australia. We have taken a different view from the US in some circumstances," he said, adding that Canberra and Washington differed on the need for China to devalue its currency, while Australia had also declared it would not favour proposed quadrilateral talks between the US, Japan, India and Australia.
February 25, 2008
The Pentagon has not seriously considered the possibility of selling the F-22 stealth fighter to Japan despite a high-level request from Tokyo last year, Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, said yesterday.
Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese prime minister, last year told President George W. Bush that Tokyo was interested in buying the sophisticated fighter, also known as the Raptor. Japanese officials were hoping the Pentagon would take the lead in urging Congress to overturn a law that bars sales of the aircraft to foreign countries.
However, speaking to reporters in Australia, Mr Gates conceded that the Pentagon had not been proactive in considering the Japanese request.
The Japanese government is expected to choose a replacement fighter for its ageing fleet of F-4 Phantoms this year. The air force favours Lockheed's F-22 but Tokyo is also considering the Lockheed-led Joint Strike Fighter, Boeing's F-15 and F-18, and BAE's Eurofighter Typhoon.
On Saturday Joel Fitzgibbon, the Australian defence minister, said Canberra was also interested in buying the Raptor. Mr Gates said he would look into the issue when he returned to Washington, but added he was not optimistic.
Mr Gates is the most senior US official to visit Australia since the new Labor government of Kevin Rudd, the prime minister, took office in November. One senior defence official said his trip to Asia, which will include Indonesia and India, was partly aimed at reaffirming US commitment to the region at a time when Washington's allies in Asia believe it has "lost focus".
At a press conference with Mr Gates on Saturday, Stephen Smith, the Australian foreign minister, urged Washington to have a constructive relationship with Beijing. He rejected suggestions that Australia's growing economic ties with China would complicate its security relationship with the US.
"We can have a very good economic relationship with China which doesn't adversely impact on our relationship with the US," he said. "On the contrary, we encourage the US to have a positive and constructive relationship with China."
The US-Australia bilateral talks come as Canberra strengthens its economic ties with China, its largest trading partner, and ahead of a visit by Mr Rudd to Beijing to discuss both countries' long-term strategic goals.
Allan Gyngell of the Lowy Institute, a think-tank, pointed out that, for the first time in Australian history, its big economic partner was not also its strategic ally.
"It is much more complicated for Australia. We have taken a different view from the US in some circumstances," he said, adding that Canberra and Washington differed on the need for China to devalue its currency, while Australia had also declared it would not favour proposed quadrilateral talks between the US, Japan, India and Australia.