Reagan security tight for tour

Press, 10 November 1983, Page 8

Reagan security tight for tour

NZPA-Reuter Tokyo President Ronald Reagan flew into Japan at the,start of a four-day official visit yesterday guarded by ships, aircraft and 20,006 policemen. His blue and white jetliner landed at Tokyo’s Haneda airport where not far. away several thousand demonstrators were staging protest rallies. Helicopters buzzed over the city and coastguard patrol boats cruised in nearby Tokyo Bay as part of the intensive security measures. Waiting to“ greet Mr Reagan and Mrs Nancy Reagan was the Foreign Minister, Mr Shintaro Abe, and a large group of officials. Behind a screen of Japanese bodyguards and American secret servicemen, Mr Reagan walked directly to a waiting helicopter for the short journey to Tokyo’s Akasaka Palace — the State guest house where he will stay until Sunday. 'About 5000 protesters, mostly Left-wingers, organised demonstrations at sites around Tokyo, mostly in parks. • T. On a railway trackVabout

2km from the Airport, 1500 protesters shouted: “Oppose Reagan’s visit to Japan.” A Leftist radical group called Chukakuaha claimed responsibility for setting off a bomb yesterday at a military installation in Osaka, southern Japan. Nearly 90,000 policemen have been mobilised for the four-day visit. Security men have carefully screened all buildings anywhere near Mr Reagan’s likely route. All manholes near the airport, the Akasaka Palace and Emperor Hirohito’s Palace have been sealed. Even underground drainpipes have been probed for explosives. In his talks with the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Yasuhiro Nakasone, Mr Reagan was expected to discuss Far East security and global economic problems.

Officials expected them to largely skirt round awkward disputes about trade and specific problems linked with Japan’s huge export surplus —likely to top lUS2O billion with the United States this year.

Mr Reagan’s next stop after leaving Tokyo will be South Korea.