The United States appeared reluctant Wednesday to arrange a summit between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in Copenhagen, dealing a political blow to the Hatoyama Cabinet as Tokyo seeks to ease diplomatic tensions with Washington.
Because the U.S. is Japan's only military ally and a key diplomatic partner, a meeting with the president carries great symbolic value for a prime minister.
But White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday in Washington that because the two national leaders met just last month in Tokyo to discuss the planned relocation of a U.S. Marine base in Okinawa, it was probably unnecessary to meet again on the sidelines of the global climate conference in Copenhagen.