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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - Source: Reuters
Japan's foreign minister will meet his US counterpart on Saturday for talks expected to focus on a row over the reorganisation of US military bases in Japan, the Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday.
Kyodo, quoting the US State Department, said the talks between Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would take place in Washington ahead of a trip to Tokyo by US President Barack Obama on November 12-13.
A dispute over relocating a US Marine base on the southern island of Okinawa is straining ties between Washington and Tokyo's new government, which has vowed to steer a more independent diplomatic course from its security ally.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said before his party won an August election that he wanted to move the Futenma air base off Okinawa.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates bluntly told Tokyo last month he wanted a 2006 pact that would replace Futenma with a facility in a less crowded part of Okinawa as well as shift 8,000 US Marines to Guam to go ahead as planned.
The deal was part of a broader agreement on reorganising the 47,000 US military personnel stationed in Japan.
