Japan tells U.S. existing Futemma relocation plan off the table

TOKYO, March 4 Kyodo -
The Japanese government has conveyed to the United States that Tokyo will not
go through with an existing plan to relocate a U.S. Marine base in Okinawa,
several Japanese-U.S. sources said Thursday.
Japan has now begun considering in earnest an alternative plan to reclaim an
area between the U.S. Navy facility on White Beach in Uruma and Tsuken Island
off the main island of Okinawa, the sources said.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, meanwhile, said Japan will come up with a
government plan for the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air
Station by the end of this month, making his first reference to a clear
deadline on doing so.
The new reclamation plan is in addition to a plan being considered by the
government to build a helipad at the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago to relocate
their Futemma airfield there from the more densely populated city of Ginowan.
The existing plan, which is part of a 2006 Japan-U.S. agreement on the
realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, calls for moving Futemma's functions to a
new airfield to be built on the coastal area of Nago called Henoko.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano conveyed Tokyo's intention to U.S.
Ambassador to Japan John Roos at a Tokyo hotel on Tuesday, the sources said,
quoting him as telling Roos that the current plan ''has become politically
difficult to implement.''
''We are considering a good alternative plan,'' the top government spokesman
was also quoted as saying. Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa was also present
at the meeting.
Roos called on Japan to settle the matter with revisions to the existing plan,
but said he plans to fly to the United States this weekend to consult with the
White House, and the Defense and State departments on the matter, according to
the sources.
During the meeting, the ambassador suggested the existing plan is the best
option, Hirano said at a news conference on Thursday, adding that he told Roos
that the Japanese government is considering the matter at a panel to draw a
conclusion on it by the end of May.
Hatoyama has promised the United States it will meet the deadline, but with
Washington showing reservations about changing the relocation site, it is
unclear whether the matter can be settled by then.
Despite the likely difficulties ahead, Hatoyama said later in the day that the
government will come up with a plan for Futemma's relocation by the end of this
month.
''It's already March. If the decision cannot be made by the end of March, we
may end up being short on time,'' Hatoyama told reporters in the evening. ''We
must come up with a government plan at some point during March.''
Hatoyama's remarks reflect Tokyo's desire to begin consulting with Washington
soon on a concrete plan for moving the Futemma facility so he can keep his
pledge to settle the matter by the end of May.
The Hatoyama government, which was launched last September following the
Democratic Party of Japan's historic election win last summer, has undertaken a
zero-base review of Futemma's relocation site, given growing local calls for
its relocation outside the prefecture.
Okinawa hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan.
In January, a candidate opposed to Futemma's relocation to the city's Henoko
district beat an incumbent in an election and became the new mayor of Nago the
following month. The prefectural assembly late last month unanimously adopted a
statement calling on the central government to seek Futemma's relocation
outside the southernmost prefecture.
The developments have added pressure on Tokyo to come around to the view that
the existing plan cannot be implemented, according to the sources.
Meanwhile, the Social Democratic Party, one of the junior partners in the
DPJ-led ruling coalition, reiterated Thursday his party cannot agree to a
possible relocation within Okinawa.
''Leaving the base (elsewhere) in Okinawa is out of the question,'' party
Secretary General Yasumasa Shigeno said at a news conference, adding that the
SDP envisions Futemma's relocation to Guam. ''We absolutely cannot agree to
it.''
Local opposition to the plan to relocate Futemma to a new facility to be built
at Camp Schwab without reclamation was evident on the same day, with a special
committee in the Nago city assembly planning to propose a draft statement
opposing the plan, assembly members said.
The statement can be adopted at the assembly's plenary session soon, possibly
next Monday, the members said.
Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine also reiterated his opposition to the relocation to
his city, telling reporters, ''The inland plan (considered by the government)
would bring the risks posed by Futemma to (Nago's residential area) without a
change, and that would in no way be acceptable.''
The government is now making arrangements around an idea of building a
500-meter-long helipad at Camp Schwab or a runway longer than about 1,500
meters there, according to government sources.
It now may add a plan to reclaim the sea between White Beach and Tsuken.
But this option would require the reclamation of a publicly owned water surface
similar to the existing plan and would be hard to sell to the prefecture, whose
governor has jurisdiction over such reclamation.
Hirano surveyed Tsuken and its surrounding area from the air when he visited
Okinawa Feb. 19 and 20, according to the sources.
The government is believed to still have other options open, such as relocation
to Ie Island in Okinawa or Tokuno Island in neighboring Kagoshima Prefecture as
well as transferring Futemma's functions to the nearby U.S. Air Force Kadena
Air Base.
But these were spurned by the U.S. side during past negotiations, and it
therefore remains unclear whether any of these would have a chance to be
accepted.
The Futemma relocation is linked to another key part of the bilateral
agreement, which is the transfer of about 8,000 Marines to Guam from Okinawa.
Both the base relocation and force transfer are to be completed by 2014.
==Kyodo