ID :
108446
Thu, 02/25/2010 - 07:12
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/108446
The shortlink copeid
Local assembly adopts request seeking U.S. base move outside Okinawa+
NAHA, Japan, Feb. 24 Kyodo -
Okinawa prefectural assembly members voted unanimously to adopt a written
request Wednesday urging the central government to relocate the U.S. Marines'
Futemma Air Station outside the southernmost prefecture.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said the adoption serves as the latest expression
of the popular will in Okinawa, while stressing there is no change in his
government's policy to come to a final conclusion on the relocation issue by
the end of May.
Following the adoption, representatives of the prefectural assembly are
expected to deliver the request to Hatoyama's office and the Cabinet ministers
concerned soon.
Referring to a 2004 U.S. Marine transport helicopter crash at the local
university nearby, the assembly in the written request described Futemma as
''the most dangerous base in the world'' and called for its immediate closure
and the return of its land to Japan.
The request strongly demands that the central government abandon the option of
relocating the Futemma facility within the prefecture and that it move the base
outside of the prefecture or Japan.
''We should interpret the prefectural assembly's expression of one opinion as
the embodiment of the will of the people of Okinawa,'' Hatoyama told reporters
in Tokyo in the evening.
''We have advocated that (moving the base outside of the prefecture or the
country) and the people of Okinawa expressed their will in the election,'' he
said, referring to last summer's general election in which his Democratic Party
of Japan made a landslide victory.
''We should understand that in a way, a popular will with the same tenor was
shown at the prefectural assembly today,'' the prime minister said.
Noting that the central government needs to seek the understanding of the
United States, Hatoyama said a government committee is studying various options
to find the best relocation plan for Futemma.
People's New Party chief Shizuka Kamei, whose party is one of the two junior
partners in Hatoyama's coalition government, said he acknowledges Wednesday's
assembly move as expressing the ''strong wishes'' of the people in Okinawa. But
''we must explore the best way,'' he said at a separate news conference.
Kamei's party has been considering two options for relocating Futemma, one of
which is to move the base to the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa, without
resorting to sea reclamation.
Meanwhile, Social Democratic Party chief Mizuho Fukushima said the central
government and the Cabinet, to which she belongs as consumer affairs minister,
must take the assembly move seriously, telling a news conference that her
party, which is the other junior coalition partner in the government, seeks to
move Futemma to the U.S. territory of Guam.
In Okinawa, Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima said in an assembly session that the central
government should ''consider relocation options with sincerity'' by taking into
account the assembly's latest move.
Japan and the United States agreed in 2006 to relocate the Futemma facility,
which currently sits in a crowded residential area of Ginowan, to the coastal
area of Camp Schwab in Nago as part of the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan.
Washington has pressed Tokyo to stick to the existing relocation plan, but
Susumu Inamine, the newly elected mayor of Nago, has opposed both the plan and
an option recently floated in the coalition government, which is to build a
helipad in the camp to accommodate Futemma's functions.
The written request adopted by the Okinawa assembly emphasizes Inamine's stance
on the relocation issue.
Meanwhile, the municipal government of Ginowan has decided to allocate about
1.2 million yen in its fiscal 2010 budget to study the possibility of suing the
central government for leaving the risks posed by Futemma unattended, city
officials said.
Japanese government sources have said that Japan and the United States will
begin examining the feasibility of relocation sites for the Futemma base soon,
possibly in the first half of March, after the parties comprising the ruling
coalition present their respective ideas to the government panel.
==Kyodo
Okinawa prefectural assembly members voted unanimously to adopt a written
request Wednesday urging the central government to relocate the U.S. Marines'
Futemma Air Station outside the southernmost prefecture.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said the adoption serves as the latest expression
of the popular will in Okinawa, while stressing there is no change in his
government's policy to come to a final conclusion on the relocation issue by
the end of May.
Following the adoption, representatives of the prefectural assembly are
expected to deliver the request to Hatoyama's office and the Cabinet ministers
concerned soon.
Referring to a 2004 U.S. Marine transport helicopter crash at the local
university nearby, the assembly in the written request described Futemma as
''the most dangerous base in the world'' and called for its immediate closure
and the return of its land to Japan.
The request strongly demands that the central government abandon the option of
relocating the Futemma facility within the prefecture and that it move the base
outside of the prefecture or Japan.
''We should interpret the prefectural assembly's expression of one opinion as
the embodiment of the will of the people of Okinawa,'' Hatoyama told reporters
in Tokyo in the evening.
''We have advocated that (moving the base outside of the prefecture or the
country) and the people of Okinawa expressed their will in the election,'' he
said, referring to last summer's general election in which his Democratic Party
of Japan made a landslide victory.
''We should understand that in a way, a popular will with the same tenor was
shown at the prefectural assembly today,'' the prime minister said.
Noting that the central government needs to seek the understanding of the
United States, Hatoyama said a government committee is studying various options
to find the best relocation plan for Futemma.
People's New Party chief Shizuka Kamei, whose party is one of the two junior
partners in Hatoyama's coalition government, said he acknowledges Wednesday's
assembly move as expressing the ''strong wishes'' of the people in Okinawa. But
''we must explore the best way,'' he said at a separate news conference.
Kamei's party has been considering two options for relocating Futemma, one of
which is to move the base to the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa, without
resorting to sea reclamation.
Meanwhile, Social Democratic Party chief Mizuho Fukushima said the central
government and the Cabinet, to which she belongs as consumer affairs minister,
must take the assembly move seriously, telling a news conference that her
party, which is the other junior coalition partner in the government, seeks to
move Futemma to the U.S. territory of Guam.
In Okinawa, Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima said in an assembly session that the central
government should ''consider relocation options with sincerity'' by taking into
account the assembly's latest move.
Japan and the United States agreed in 2006 to relocate the Futemma facility,
which currently sits in a crowded residential area of Ginowan, to the coastal
area of Camp Schwab in Nago as part of the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan.
Washington has pressed Tokyo to stick to the existing relocation plan, but
Susumu Inamine, the newly elected mayor of Nago, has opposed both the plan and
an option recently floated in the coalition government, which is to build a
helipad in the camp to accommodate Futemma's functions.
The written request adopted by the Okinawa assembly emphasizes Inamine's stance
on the relocation issue.
Meanwhile, the municipal government of Ginowan has decided to allocate about
1.2 million yen in its fiscal 2010 budget to study the possibility of suing the
central government for leaving the risks posed by Futemma unattended, city
officials said.
Japanese government sources have said that Japan and the United States will
begin examining the feasibility of relocation sites for the Futemma base soon,
possibly in the first half of March, after the parties comprising the ruling
coalition present their respective ideas to the government panel.
==Kyodo
