Gov`t has no intention of going over local heads on U.S. base

TOKYO, Jan. 27 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Wednesday that the government has no
intention of making a decision on where to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps'
Futemma Air Station in Okinawa by going over the heads of those in the locality
to which the base would be moved.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano sought the same day to clarify his
earlier indication that the government could take legal action to settle the
issue if it could not secure consent from a local government.
Hirano's recent remarks on the topic have drawn fire not just from local
governments in Okinawa but also from junior partners in the coalition
government, complicating his job of presiding over a government committee on
the issue.
The panel is exploring an alternative to the existing plan under which
Futemma's flight operations will be moved to a new facility to be built in Nago
on the southern island by 2014. A challenger opposing the relocation won the
city's mayoral election Sunday.
At a meeting of the House of Councillors Budget Committee on Wednesday,
Hatoyama said the government ''has no intention of making a decision by going
over the head of the local government'' that has jurisdiction over the
relocation site.
Hirano said at a news conference, ''Seeking understanding (from a local
government) is absolutely necessary, and I have never meant to deny that.''
But the top government spokesman said local consent could take various forms.
''The content of an agreement could have extremely multifaceted meanings,'' he
said, asking, ''What do you mean by an agreement?''
Hirano nonetheless acknowledged the possibility of taking forcible action, such
as compulsory appropriation of land, but ''that makes it all the more necessary
to obtain local understanding.''
''The priority is to reduce the burdens on the people of Okinawa and remove the
risks to them,'' he said, alluding to the concentration of U.S. military
facilities in Okinawa and the risks of accidents they pose to the people.
Earlier in the day, Hatoyama said various options are open as to where to
relocate the Futemma base, when he was asked about remarks made by a senior
government official who said Sunday's election result in Nago has made it
''impossible'' to move the base there.
''The presence of various ideas is possible in the current process,'' the prime
minister told reporters in the morning, asking the public to watch developments
calmly because the government panel is discussing the issue.
On Tuesday night, a lawmaker serving in a senior position in the Democratic
Party of Japan-led government said moving the Futemma base to the Marines' Camp
Schwab area in Nago in line with the existing plan is ''absolutely impossible
under the current circumstances.''
Given that a candidate opposing Futemma's relocation to his less densely
populated city has beaten an incumbent in the election, the official said,
speaking on condition of anonymity, ''There is strong opposition in the
locality.''
Hirano said Wednesday it would be inappropriate for him to name a specific
place and exclude it from consideration, adding that the government panel he
chairs will examine the issue on a ''from-zero basis.''
Speaking to reporters in the morning, Hatoyama reiterated that the government
will reach a conclusion by the end of May that will be acceptable to the
Japanese, the people of Okinawa and the United States.
Meanwhile, a DPJ lawmaker suggested to the mayors of three municipalities on
Tokuno Island in Kagoshima Prefecture that the Futemma base be relocated to
their island when they met Monday, but they rejected the suggestion, one of
them, Isen Mayor Akira Okubo, said Wednesday.
The lawmaker was Seishu Makino, a House of Representatives member from Shizuoka
Prefecture who is close to Hatoyama, a local informed about his visit said.
Hatoyama said late Wednesday that he did not know about the move and said he
will refrain from naming a specific site in connection with the government's
ongoing review of the relocation plan.
''If we discuss the issue too openly, it will be hard for things to proceed in
an easy manner,'' he told reporters. ''The important thing is to decide on a
new relocation site by (the end of) May.''
Also on Wednesday, Nago Mayor-elect Susumu Inamine lashed out at Hirano for
suggesting the government does not necessarily have to secure local consent to
implement a base relocation.
''Such a thing will not be acceptable,'' he told reporters in Nago. ''It is
contradictory to keep a commitment with the U.S. side while requiring no
agreement from a locality.''
In the closely watched election, Inamine beat Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro, who
had expressed willingness to accept the relocation. Inamine will assume the
mayoral post on Feb. 8.
Tokyo's ongoing review of the current relocation plan began after Hatoyama's
government was launched in September, following the DPJ's historic win in a
national election. Hatoyama had said the Futemma base was hoped to be moved at
least outside the prefecture.
But the review has irked the United States, which has pressed Japan to
implement the plan on the grounds that it is the only viable option.
The Futemma relocation is part of a broader bilateral agreement on the
reconfiguration of U.S. forces in Japan, which was worked out after years of
negotiations when the Liberal Democratic Party was in power.
==Kyodo