Hirano says he is considering area off Uruma for Futemma relocation+

NAHA, Japan, March 14 Kyodo -
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano has said he is considering relocating
the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, to
an area to be reclaimed off a U.S. Navy facility at White Beach in Uruma in the
prefecture, a lawmaker said Sunday.
It is the first time that Hirano has clearly mentioned a new relocation plan,
though several Japanese-U.S. sources said earlier this month that Tokyo had
begun mulling the location as an alternative to an existing plan crafted by
Japan and the United States.
Shokichi Kina, a House of Councillors member who heads the ruling Democratic
Party of Japan's Okinawa chapter, said Hirano told him of the relocation plan
in their meeting at the prime minister's office last Wednesday.
Kina said the top government spokesman also proposed moving the Air
Self-Defense Force's base at Naha airport and other SDF bases in the prefecture
to the reclaimed area off White Beach.
Hirano added that people in Okinawa would be glad to see the return of areas
used for bases at the entry point for Naha, the prefectural capital, according
to Kina.
However, Hirano said he did not know what Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is
considering regarding the relocation of the Futemma base and that the White
Beach plan was his own.
Meanwhile, Sadakazu Tanigaki, president of the main opposition Liberal
Democratic Party, said Sunday that Hatoyama should step down if the government
fails to keep its pledge to settle the issue by the end of May.
Tanigaki told reporters in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, that his party is also
eyeing submitting a no-confidence motion against the Hatoyama Cabinet and urged
the government to settle the matter by the deadline.
In a meeting with Tanigaki in Nago earlier Sunday, local residents told the LDP
leader they were opposed to another alternative plan being considered by the
government to build a helipad at the Marines' Camp Schwab in the city to
relocate the Futemma airfield from Ginowan.
==Kyodo
2010-03-14 22:07:44