U.S. President Bill Clinton will delay his departure for Japan by one day and fly directly to Okinawa this morning for the three-day Group of Eight summit beginning Friday, skipping today's planned stopover in Tokyo, the White House announced Wednesday.
The delay, due to Clinton's continued efforts to broker a Middle East peace accord, affects his planned talks with Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, which had been scheduled for this afternoon in Tokyo.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday in Tokyo, Mori expressed his understanding for the schedule change, pointing to the importance of the ongoing Middle East peace conference that Clinton is hosting.
Clinton "is focusing all his energies (on the Middle East peace process), and I fully understand that," he said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa also expressed the government's understanding, calling Clinton's decision "only natural."
"The U.S. president is trying to make every effort to promote peace in the Middle East, up until the last minute. . . . We (the Japanese government) understand the situation," he said.
The top government spokesman said that the Japanese government was informed of the change in Clinton's itinerary by Washington in the afternoon. He also said the bilateral talks have yet to be rescheduled.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright canceled her trip to Japan for the G8 foreign ministers' meeting in Miyazaki, also citing the Middle East talks. Deputy U.S. State Secretary Strobe Talbott attended the meeting in her place.