米紙ニューヨーク・タイムズ（電子版）が掲載した民主党の鳩山代表の論文が米国など海外で波紋を広げている。

日本の次期首相として注目が高まる中、「米国離れ」とも受け取れる様々な主張が強調されているためだ。鳩山氏は３日未明、オバマ米大統領との電話会談で日米関係を重視する考えを伝え、米側の不信感払拭(ふっしょく)に努めた。

◆オバマ氏と電話で会談◆

ニューヨーク・タイムズ紙の電子版が掲載したのは、鳩山代表が日本の月刊誌「Ｖｏｉｃｅ」９月号に寄稿した論文の英訳版の抜粋だ。

省略が多い中、特に、〈１〉日本は米国主導のグローバリズムという名の市場原理主義に翻弄され続けてきた〈２〉米国の国力が衰える情勢でのアジア統合の重要性――の２点が重点的に引用され、米国に対する懐疑的な評価が強調されている。

鳩山氏はオバマ大統領との電話会談で、日米関係を重視していることを丁寧に説明した。「論文の印象を打ち消し、鳩山政権が誕生しても米国にマイナスになることはないとアピールしなければならない」（鳩山氏周辺）という事情もあった。

初めての電話会談で、大統領が民主党の衆院選大勝を祝ったのに対し、鳩山氏は「大統領が勇気を与えてくれた」と応じて友好ムードの演出に努めた。

民主党は、インド洋での海上自衛隊の給油活動を来年１月以降は継続しない方針だ。鳩山氏にとって、オバマ大統領と信頼関係を構築し、日米関係を損なわないように給油活動を終えることは「政権の生命線」（幹部）となる。

８月１１日に海外メディア向けに記者会見した際は、米メディアの質問に「一番大事なことは、いかにしてオバマ大統領との信頼関係を構築するかということだ。その中で、給油問題などにも結論を出していきたい」と答えた。

大統領との電話会談についても、党内では「まずは儀礼的なあいさつだけでも意味がある。反米政権の誕生というような極端な印象にはならなかったはずだ」との期待が出ている。（政治部　村尾卓志、ワシントン支局　小川聡）

（2009年9月3日07時07分 読売新聞）

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's next leader, Yukio Hatoyama, was to meet the U.S. ambassador on Thursday as worries simmered about the allies' ties after an election win by Hatoyama's party, which has pledged a more independent diplomatic course.

Hatoyama, whose Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) crushed the long-ruling Liberal Democrats in Sunday's election, sought to reassure U.S. President Barack Obama that the relationship would stay central to Tokyo's diplomacy.

"I told him we think the U.S.-Japan alliance is the foundation (of Japanese diplomacy) and I would like to build U.S.-Japan relations with eyes on the future," Hatoyama told reporters after an early morning phone conversation with Obama.

The prospect of a Democratic Party administration in Japan, ruled for most of the past half-decade by a conservative party that put the U.S. partnership at the core of its security stance, has raised worries in Washington about a tilt away from the alliance.

Most analysts say no huge shift is in store once Hatoyama takes up the premiership on September 16, but investors are also concerned about a possible rocky road ahead.

The Democrats pledged in their campaign platform to create a more equal partnership with Washington while forging warmer ties with Asian neighbors such as China.

The U.S.-educated Hatoyama also raised eyebrows in Washington with a recent essay, published in English, in which he attacked the "unrestrained market fundamentalism" of U.S.-led globalization. He has since sought to play down those comments.

"It was an error of judgment on the part of Hatoyama and the DPJ to have the essay published in English," said Koichi Nakano, a professor at Tokyo's Sophia University.

"It was for domestic consumption and had its purpose in the campaign context, but putting it out in English for an American audience was unwise."

U.S. officials, however, have raised eyebrows themselves in Tokyo by forcefully reiterating Washington's position that deals on U.S. forces in Japan were not up for renegotiation.

RISKING BACKLASH?

"Obama needs to send a message to the whole administration to bite their tongues or they will provoke a fight," said Columbia University professor Gerry Curtis. "The internal politics of the DPJ and its coalition don't allow them to just walk away from his platform a few days after the election. But give them a few months and there will be ways to deal with these issues."

The Democrats, themselves a mix of former LDP members, ex-socialists and younger conservatives, are trying to form a coalition with two tiny parties, including the leftist Social Democrats, whose support is needed in parliament's upper house.

The new ruling party has said it wants to reexamine an agreement governing U.S. military forces in Japan and a deal on rejigging U.S. troops under which about 8,000 Marines would leave for the U.S. territory of Guam and a Marine air base be shifted to a less populated part of the southern island of Okinawa.

"Just to make it abundantly clear, both the United States and Japan, at the government-to-government level, have made it absolutely clear that these agreements have been signed, agreed to, and are going forward," new U.S. ambassador John Roos said in an interview with U.S. National Public Radio on Wednesday.

But Washington would do well to avoid a strident tone in talks with Japan's government-in-waiting, some analysts said.

"Japan is so heavily reliant on the United States that radical change is not going to happen," Sophia University's Nakano said.

"But American senior officials taking such a haughty stance after the Japanese people have spoken in favor of a change of government is not diplomatically very sound.

"They have to be careful. They don't want a backlash."

Such concerns may have been reflected in comments in Washington by the top U.S. diplomat for Asia, Kurt Campbell, who said Washington saw no contradiction between a call for more independence from Washington and a healthy alliance.

"For the alliance to maintain its relevance and its influence ... a degree of independence, of confidence, is absolutely essential on the part of Japan," Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told a think tank in Washington. "The United States supports that."

(Additional reporting by Yoko Nishikawa, and Matt Spetalnick and Paul Eckert in Washington)

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