Not setting Futemma plan by end of March 'no big deal': Hatoyama

+

TOKYO, March 30 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama suggested Tuesday it is highly unlikely that his
government will meet a self-imposed end-of-March deadline to proffer a single
proposal for the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in
Okinawa Prefecture, calling the possible delay ''no big deal.''
''I thought (the end of March) was a rough target for the government to have a
proposal that would be accepted by the public, starting with (the people of)
Okinawa, and moreover by the United States'' by the end of May, Hatoyama told
reporters. ''Putting it off by one, two or several days is no big deal.''
The important thing, he said, is to have the parties concerned accept a solid
proposal by the end of May. Resolving the relocation dispute by then is one of
the most clearly stated pledges Hatoyama has made since taking office last
September.
Hatoyama is likely to discuss the matter with other ministers soon, possibly on
Friday, after Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada returns from his visit to the
United States and Canada that day, government officials said.
At a news conference last Friday, Hatoyama said his government was striving to
formulate a single proposal by the end of this month. But he has since decided
to be briefed by Okada on his talks with the U.S. state and defense
secretaries, the officials said.
Japan sounded out the United States on Friday about relocating a Futemma
helicopter unit to a land part of the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago on a
provisional basis and eventually to an area off the Katsuren Peninsula in
eastern Okinawa or Tokunoshima Island north of Okinawa.
Hatoyama is believed to be willing to decide on a proposal in which the U.S.
side has expressed interest, but coordination between the two countries is
likely to run into difficulties.
''Right now, we are trying to get the approval of the ministers concerned and
communicate with them,'' Hatoyama told reporters on Tuesday evening. ''By using
that as a basis, I am about to begin discussions with the United States and
others concerned, starting with those in Okinawa.''
Earlier in the day, executives of the two junior partners in Hatoyama's
Democratic Party of Japan-led coalition government agreed to oppose relocating
Futemma to the area that would be reclaimed off the Katsuren Peninsula.
The Social Democratic Party, which is calling for Futemma's relocation outside
of the prefecture, and the People's New Party, which advocates a relocation
within Okinawa but without involving reclamation, will convey their opposition
to Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano soon, they said.
''While the two parties differ on the relocation issue, neither party can
accept the construction of a new base by reclaiming the sea of Okinawa,'' SDP's
Kantoku Teruya said at a news conference.
Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa told reporters that the ministers concerned
met on March 23 and ''resolved the matter'' on the proposal to move the Futemma
facility to the area off the coast of the U.S. Navy's White Beach facility in
Uruma on the peninsula.
Kitazawa, however, declined to elaborate on discussions by Hatoyama, Hirano,
Okada, himself and Seiji Maehara, minister in charge of Okinawa affairs, at the
meeting.
The defense chief also said he personally believes U.S. military helicopters
based at the Futemma base should be transferred to two or more facilities.
Noting that about half of 60 helicopters based at the Futemma air station are
away from the facility as they have been dispatched to Afghanistan and other
areas, Kitazawa said the transfer of about 30 choppers should be first
negotiated between Japan and the United States.
The Futemma relocation is part of a 2006 accord reached between Japan and the
United States to realign U.S. forces in Japan. The other key part of the accord
is the transfer of some 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam.
==Kyodo
2010-03-30 22:37:30