Coalition partners to make proposals on Futemma relocation Feb. 17+

TOKYO, Feb. 9 Kyodo -
A government committee exploring possible alternatives for the relocation of
the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa decided Tuesday that the
two junior coalition partners in the Democratic Party of Japan-led government
will present their relocation proposals on Feb. 17.
The presentation will follow a two-day trip by panel members to Guam from
Wednesday to inspect U.S. military bases on the Pacific island, said Mikio
Shimoji, policy chief of the People's New Party, one of the coalition partners.
While Shimoji's party and the other junior partner, the Social Democratic
Party, which advocates moving the Futemma facility to Guam, will present their
proposals during the meeting next week, the DPJ will not propose one, a panel
participant said.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has said that Japan will reach a final conclusion
by the end of May on where to relocate the Futemma facility. The panel now
plans to come up with its plan by next month so that the government can begin
making arrangements with the United States and the local government that will
host the replacement facility.
It remains unclear, however, whether Tokyo will be able to proceed as planned
given that the United States has maintained that an existing plan to move the
Futemma facility to the Henoko district of Nago in a less populated part of
Okinawa is the best option.
The panel's fact-finding mission will include visits to Andersen Air Force Base
and other U.S. military facilities on Guam on Thursday. Prior to this, Shimoji
and another panel member, SDP policy chief Tomoko Abe, will visit Tinian Island
in the Northern Mariana Islands.
The transfer of about 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam is planned under a
2006 Japan-U.S. agreement on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan and is
linked to the completion by 2014 of a new facility in Nago to take over
Futemma's heliport functions.
Shimoji said Tuesday that he plans to present two proposals at the next
meeting, adding that neither will seek to relocate the Futemma facility to
Henoko.
Nor will his proposals leave the Futemma facility as is, said Shimoji, a House
of Representatives lawmaker representing a district in Okinawa.
An opponent of relocating the base to Nago won the city's mayoral election last
month, adding pressure on Tokyo to seek an alternative relocation site.
Shimoji emphasized the importance of the upcoming trip, saying that Guam is the
only place to which thousands of Marines will be transferred from Okinawa under
the agreement.
Chaired by Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano, the panel includes Shimoji,
Abe and several DPJ lawmakers serving in senior government positions.
Hirano will not take part in the trip.
==Kyodo
2010-02-09 23:51:17