Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Friday the United States has assured Japan of the safety in deploying a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to a US Navy base in Japan for the first time.

Machimura said the Japanese government appreciates the US posture in assuring that it will continue to maintain such safety as it had shown in the past years when its nuclear-powered vessels have docked at Japanese ports.

Meanwhile, Japanese Defense Agency Director General Yoshinori Ono said at a separate press conference that, from the viewpoint of Japan's national security and the security of the Asian region,it is extremely meaningful for a carrier with such high capabilities to use Japan as its homeport.

Ono also called for the Japanese public's understanding that nuclear-powered carriers are safe and that the stationing of such a vessel does not contradict Japan's non-nuclear principles because the principles refer to nuclear weapons, not to nuclear power generation.

The officials' remarks come after the US government announcement Thursday that Japan and the United States have agreed to have the US Navy station a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Japan for the first time, to replace the conventional carrier Kitty Hawk at the naval base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture in 2008.

Source: Xinhua