Japan proposes to Roos plan to alter bilateral accord on Futemma+

TOKYO, March 26 Kyodo -
Japan proposed to U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos on Friday a plan to seek
the alteration of an existing bilateral accord on the relocation of the U.S.
Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa, diplomatic sources said, marking
the start of bilateral talks toward settling the relocation dispute.

Although the content of the proposal was not officially announced, Roos said
later that the United States ''will carefully consider'' the issue while
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama showed readiness to make efforts to move
the facility outside of the southern island prefecture.
The sources said that Japan's proposal, presented by Foreign Minister Katsuya
Okada, is expected to entail a two-stage process, starting with the
construction of a 550-meter-long helipad at the inland part of the U.S.
Marines' Camp Schwab in the city of Nago in Okinawa to temporarily relocate
some of the helicopter troops from the Futemma facility.
As for the final relocation site, the government is considering an artificial
island to be built off the coast of the U.S. Navy's White Beach facility in
Uruma, also in Okinawa, or Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture.
But it remains unclear whether the plan will be accepted by Washington or local
governments concerned and Hatoyama, who has promised to settle the issue by the
end of May, is likely to face a tough road ahead.
The latest development came as Okada plans to visit the United States before
heading to Canada to attend a Group of Eight foreign ministerial meeting
scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
Okada said that he plans to meet U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in
Washington and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Canada, but noted that the
meetings are unlikely to provide an opportunity for in-depth discussions on the
Futemma issue.
''We told (today) how we are reviewing the matter and I think the United States
will need time to study our ideas...so I don't think the talks (with Gates and
Clinton) will go into depth. Substantial exchanges of opinions will be first
held at the working level,'' he added.
Washington has so far maintained that the 2006 bilateral accord to move the
Futemma facility, located in a crowded residential area of Ginowan, to the
coastal area of Camp Schwab is the best option. It took years to reach the
accord.
Hatoyama said in the morning that his government had just begun the process of
briefing the parties involved on the options being considered.
''We will decide by the end of this month on a government plan (for the
relocation), which is intended to gain the understanding of Okinawa, the public
and the United States,'' Hatoyama said. ''We have just started to provide
explanations as to what we will do.''
The prime minister also told a press conference later in the day that he would
like to think as much as possible about how he ''can set a course to move the
Futemma facility outside the prefecture,'' given the heavy burden on the people
in Okinawa of hosting the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan.
In Okinawa, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa told Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima that
the possibility of Japan sticking to the existing Japan-U.S. accord has become
''extremely close to zero'' and that the government is considering various
ideas that would involve relocating the functions of Futemma to more than one
place.
Japan is also considering transferring some U.S. Marine training drills outside
of Okinawa, more specifically, to Japanese Self-Defense Forces bases in the
Kyushu region.
Nakaima made clear his stance to Kitazawa during their talks that proposals
that would end up relocating the Futemma facility within Okinawa are
unacceptable. The prefecture is frustrated with the noise pollution and crimes
involving U.S. military personnel.
The governor told reporters later that he was ''not sure whether the facility
will be returned, or is going to remain'' where it is. He also said that he did
not hear clear explanations on such issues as whether noise pollution will be
reduced.
There are growing expectations among people in Okinawa that the facility will
be relocated outside of the prefecture, as Hatoyama insisted before taking
office in September that he would seek to do that in order to ease the burden
of hosting bases on local residents.
After his talks with Okada on Friday, Roos said in a statement, ''Today, the
government of Japan shared its current thinking with regard to the Futemma
issue, which we will carefully consider.''
''The United States and Japan will continue to work together as allies in a
spirit of partnership as we move forward to resolve this issue,'' he added.
During the meeting, Roos was quoted as asking whether Japan's plan would
maintain deterrence and Okada responded in the affirmative, according to the
sources.
The Japanese Defense Ministry estimates that the proposals presented to Roos
are likely to take nearly a decade to complete and some believe that the
two-stage process is not realistic.
In Washington on Thursday, Adm. Robert Willard, commander of the U.S. Pacific
Command based in Hawaii, stressed the existing bilateral deal is ''the best
option'' and said it would be difficult to transfer the U.S. Marine training
drills outside of Okinawa.
''The U.S. focus on the need for a Futemma replacement facility that is
collocated with our Marines is that in our Marine Corps concept of operations
the Marines have the rotary-wing support that they require in order to
transport Marine infantry into their exercise areas, training areas and so
on,'' he told a press conference.
''When you look beyond Okinawa, outside of Okinawa, the time-distance factors
and the location factors and the difficulty in bringing that air support into a
Marine Air-Ground Task Force is unattainable,' he said.
==Kyodo
2010-03-27 01:42:41