Ruling parties likely to present U.S. base relocation plans in March

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TOKYO, Feb. 22 Kyodo -
Junior coalition partners of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan are likely to
present their relocation options for the U.S. Marines' Futemma Air Station in
Okinawa to a government committee next month, government sources said Monday.
The likely presentation at that time results from the government's plans to put
off the next meeting of the panel, which is exploring options to relocate the
controversial base, until next month due to differences within the ruling bloc,
the sources said.
The two partners, the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party, were
expected to present their relocation options to the panel at a meeting last
Wednesday, but the government has since put off having them do so.
The panel ''hasn't decided on whether to draw a conclusion within this month or
not,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said of the committee, which he
chairs, at a news conference. He also said he has not decided on when to hold
the next meeting.
Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa has indicated the panel should finalize its
relocation plan by the end of this month after the ruling parties present their
own plans, and that Japan should then begin negotiating with the United States
from next month.
Hirano said Monday that Kitazawa's remarks show the defense minister's hope as
the person responsible for talks with U.S. officials over the matter that the
negotiations begin within the time frame, given the need to settle it by the
end of May as promised by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
Hirano has indicated that a DPJ plan would be presented to the panel after the
two junior partners offer their own plans.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said the same day that the outcome of
the negotiations on Futemma's relocation could affect the transfer of about
8,000 Marines to Guam from Okinawa, a key plank in the 2006 Japanese-U.S.
agreement on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan that is tied to relocating
the Futemma facility by 2014.
''I cannot deny the possibility that a failure to agree on the Futemma
relocation between Japan and the United States could influence (the transfer)
although I strongly hope for the Marines' transfer to Guam,'' he said at a
session of the House of Representatives Budget Committee.
The Hatoyama government has revisited an existing plan to move the Futemma
facility in Ginowan to Nago, a less densely populated part of the same southern
island, under the 2006 agreement, while the United States has pressed Japan to
proceed with the plan.
The SDP has called for moving the base outside of the prefecture, preferably to
Guam. The People's New Party, in contrast, plans to propose two options to
Hirano's panel, one of which is building a new facility at the Marines' Camp
Schwab in Nago, rather than in the coastal area.
The People's New Party's plan takes into account local concerns that remain
strong over the existing project's impact on marine life in the area. But SDP
chief Mizuho Fukushima has publicly criticized the option, sowing discord
within the ruling bloc over the matter.
Financial services minister Shizuka Kamei, who heads the People's New Party,
told the Diet panel on Monday that his party ''would not stick to (the inland
relocation option) if there is a better alternative.''
At the same panel, Hatoyama reiterated his pledge to come to a final conclusion
on the matter by the end of May, while declining to say what he will do if he
fails to fulfill the promise.
==Kyodo
2010-02-22 23:12:23