Hatoyama to meet with key ministers Tuesday over Futemma relocation+

TOKYO, March 20 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Saturday he will meet with Chief Cabinet
Secretary Hirofumi Hirano, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Defense Minister
Toshimi Kitazawa on Tuesday to discuss the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps'
Futemma Air Station.
''It is unlikely that we will reach a certain conclusion (at the meeting),''
the premier told reporters. ''I will eventually present my own intention to the
public, but the time has not yet come.''
He also reiterated his willingness to finalize the government's plan on where
to relocate the Futemma facility, currently in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, by
the end of this month. ''We are making efforts in consideration of the end of
May deadline,'' he added.
Since the six-month-old government has said it is seeking to relocate the
Futemma base outside of Okinawa or even outside of Japan, any plan to relocate
the base within the southernmost prefecture could touch off fierce backlash
from people in Okinawa.
The government is likely to face difficulties securing the agreement of the
United States, which has been pressing Japan to stick to a bilateral deal
agreed on in 2006 to transfer it to the coastal area of the Marines' Camp
Schwab in Nago -- a move requiring land reclamation that has triggered strong
local opposition.
The Democratic Party of Japan-led government is expected to compile its plan
based on two ideas -- one to move the airfield in Ginowan to Camp Schwab
without land reclamation and another to relocate the base to an area to be
reclaimed between the U.S. Navy's White Beach facility in Uruma and Tsuken
Island.
There is growing concern that the Futemma facility could remain in its current
location in a crowded residential area if Tokyo's negotiations with Washington
as well as local people get bogged down.
An idea to relocate U.S. Marine drills to Self-Defense Force bases in the
Kyushu region ahead of the relocation of the Futemma facility has also been
floated.
The Futemma transfer is part of a broader 2006 realignment road map for U.S.
forces stationed in Japan, which also includes the relocation of 8,000 Marines
to the U.S. territory of Guam by 2014.
If the government settles on a plan to relocate the Futemma facility within
Okinawa, it could also sour relations between the DPJ and one of its two
coalition partners -- the Social Democratic Party, a pacifist party that has
been resolutely opposed to any plan to moving the base within the prefecture.
==Kyodo