US urges Japan to name disaster relief hub task force members

By Tim Kelly

TOKYO (Reuters) – The United States on Wednesday called on Japan to name its representatives for a joint task force that will determine the location and resources for a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief hub they have agreed to establish in Japan.

In letters seen by Reuters on Thursday, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel asked Japan’s foreign and defence ministers, Yoko Kamikawa and Minoru Kihara, to provide the names of four Japanese officials at its “earliest convenience” and urged them to propose a date for the inaugural task force meeting.

“The effects of climate change are bringing devastation and destruction to communities around the world with ever-greater frequency and ferocity,” Emanuel told Reuters in a separate comment.

Emergency supplies at the hub could also likely be used to help civilians displaced by any conflict in Asia. The commitment made in April by U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to establish the facility came amid growing concern about Chinese military drills around Taiwan.

In his letter, Emanuel said that he, along with Lieutenant General Roger Turner, the U.S Marine Corp commander in Japan, Colonel Patrick Biggs, the country’s U.S. Army Corp of Engineers chief, and regional USAID head, Heath Cosgrove, would represent Washington on the task force.

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the country’s Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to requests for comment.