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?"
61667 Article 6 of the treaty stipulates that the purpose of US military bases in Japan is limited to keeping the peace and security in Japan and the Far East.