61652    Furthermore, he is having a tough time with the midterm election results that turned the tables for the Republicans in Congress.

61653    Congress has just convened the current session and this is a crucial test for the president.

61654    Also, there is concern over the Chechen situation that could put his sworn ally Russian President Yeltsin on shaky ground.

61655    More worrisome is the economic crisis in neighboring Mexico.

61656    It really comes as no surprise that questions from the American press corps focused on these issues during the press conference.

61657    Well then, it begs the question as to why the prime minister chose that particular time to visit the US.

61658    It seems that the prime minister himself was reluctant to go.

61659    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had set it all up.

61660    We are unimpressed with the prime minister who does whatever he is told, but what made the bureaucrats at the Foreign Ministry so insistent about the visit?

61661    In recollecting the dull tone of the summit with the active communication at the working level between Japan and the US for the past several months, one particular scenario has come to the forefront.

61662    It is the qualitative conversion of the Japan-US security structure.

61663    Prime Minister Murayama, on his own accord, told the president, "the Japan-US security alliance is necessary for stability and order in the Asia-Pacific."

61664    He stressed this issue in a similar manner during the press conference.

61665    The prime minister must have known that the officials in charge had been reviewing the definition of the Japan-US security treaty.

61666    In that case, how does our redefining the security treaty relate to the "stability and order in the Asia-Pacific?"