ID :
118232
Fri, 04/23/2010 - 08:23
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/118232
The shortlink copeid
Hatoyama says he will seek replacement facility for Futemma+
TOKYO, April 22 Kyodo - Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama suggested Thursday that he will seek a replacement facility for the U.S. Marines' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa, rather than just partially relocating a helicopter unit's exercises, to get the base site returned to the Japanese side.
The United States, meanwhile, has rejected the idea of relocating the
contentious base to Tokunoshima Island in nearby Kagoshima Prefecture because
the island is too far from other Okinawa-based Marine units, a government
source said the same day.
Hatoyama has suggested his government will pursue the base's relocation to the
island about 200 kilometers to the northeast, but the U.S. rejection has added
another layer of difficulty to the bilateral row, which he has vowed to resolve
by the end of May.
Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said the same day that it appears ''extremely
difficult'' for the government to meet the deadline.
During a debate at the plenary session of the House of Representatives,
Hatoyama said, ''Realistically speaking, it's impossible to get (the Futemma
base) returned without a replacement facility.''
A current relocation plan agreed on between Japan and the United States calls
for the Futemma base's relocation to an airfield to be built on a coastal area
of the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, also in Okinawa, by 2014. The base site
will be returned to Japan upon the project's completion.
Hatoyama also asked for support again for the government's ongoing review of
the current plan, while the United States has maintained its position that it
prefers the existing plan or its modification.
''Not just the people of the prefecture but many in the general public had
expressed concern (over the current plan),'' Hatoyama said in the session,
referring to the opposition to building a new facility by reclaiming the sea
nearby. ''Had we rammed it through, (the current plan) would not have been
(implemented) smoothly, as a result,'' he said.
On the political responsibility he would bear in the event that he failed to
resolve the matter by the deadline, Hatoyama said he has been working on it
with determination, adding, ''I need not state any further.''
On the roughly 10-minute-long informal conversation he held with U.S. President
Barack Obama over a working dinner in Washington earlier this month, Hatoyama
said that although it was not formal talks, it was not an expression of ''cold
shoulder or mistrust'' to him, either.
''The importance (of the talks) is not determined by the length of the talks,''
the prime minister said. ''I think it was meaningful that I was able to convey
my feelings (to Obama) directly and correctly.''
According to the government source, the United States has conveyed to Japan
that a helicopter unit of the U.S. Marines should not be farther than 65
nautical miles, or 120 km, from the Marines on the ground in refusing the
potential relocation to Tokunoshima.
The helicopter unit at the Futemma base is used to transport Marines stationed
in Okinawa from bases such as Camp Hansen and Camp Schwab.
The United States has told Japan that it is desirable for the two operations to
be close enough to enable them to react to situations swiftly, the source said.
''It's an extremely difficult thing (to achieve) because we must clear various
hurdles, namely the U.S. military, local governments and the ruling coalition
parties,'' Kitazawa said at a House of Councillors Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee session, referring to the difficulties meeting the May 31 deadline.
Arrangements have been under way for Hatoyama to visit the city of Kagoshima on
May 15 to attend a gathering organized by the ruling Democratic Party of
Japan's local chapter ahead of the upper house election this summer, sources
close to him said.
The mayors of the three Tokunoshima towns rejected earlier this week a
government proposal to meet with Hirano in Kagoshima to discuss the matter,
following a mass rally Sunday on the island to protest the base's possible
relocation there.
The Hatoyama government, which came to power last September in a historic
change of government, has spent months reexamining the existing bilateral plan,
which seeks to relocate the helicopter functions of the Futemma base in the
crowded city of Ginowan to the new airfield to be built in Nago.
==Kyodo
The United States, meanwhile, has rejected the idea of relocating the
contentious base to Tokunoshima Island in nearby Kagoshima Prefecture because
the island is too far from other Okinawa-based Marine units, a government
source said the same day.
Hatoyama has suggested his government will pursue the base's relocation to the
island about 200 kilometers to the northeast, but the U.S. rejection has added
another layer of difficulty to the bilateral row, which he has vowed to resolve
by the end of May.
Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said the same day that it appears ''extremely
difficult'' for the government to meet the deadline.
During a debate at the plenary session of the House of Representatives,
Hatoyama said, ''Realistically speaking, it's impossible to get (the Futemma
base) returned without a replacement facility.''
A current relocation plan agreed on between Japan and the United States calls
for the Futemma base's relocation to an airfield to be built on a coastal area
of the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, also in Okinawa, by 2014. The base site
will be returned to Japan upon the project's completion.
Hatoyama also asked for support again for the government's ongoing review of
the current plan, while the United States has maintained its position that it
prefers the existing plan or its modification.
''Not just the people of the prefecture but many in the general public had
expressed concern (over the current plan),'' Hatoyama said in the session,
referring to the opposition to building a new facility by reclaiming the sea
nearby. ''Had we rammed it through, (the current plan) would not have been
(implemented) smoothly, as a result,'' he said.
On the political responsibility he would bear in the event that he failed to
resolve the matter by the deadline, Hatoyama said he has been working on it
with determination, adding, ''I need not state any further.''
On the roughly 10-minute-long informal conversation he held with U.S. President
Barack Obama over a working dinner in Washington earlier this month, Hatoyama
said that although it was not formal talks, it was not an expression of ''cold
shoulder or mistrust'' to him, either.
''The importance (of the talks) is not determined by the length of the talks,''
the prime minister said. ''I think it was meaningful that I was able to convey
my feelings (to Obama) directly and correctly.''
According to the government source, the United States has conveyed to Japan
that a helicopter unit of the U.S. Marines should not be farther than 65
nautical miles, or 120 km, from the Marines on the ground in refusing the
potential relocation to Tokunoshima.
The helicopter unit at the Futemma base is used to transport Marines stationed
in Okinawa from bases such as Camp Hansen and Camp Schwab.
The United States has told Japan that it is desirable for the two operations to
be close enough to enable them to react to situations swiftly, the source said.
''It's an extremely difficult thing (to achieve) because we must clear various
hurdles, namely the U.S. military, local governments and the ruling coalition
parties,'' Kitazawa said at a House of Councillors Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee session, referring to the difficulties meeting the May 31 deadline.
Arrangements have been under way for Hatoyama to visit the city of Kagoshima on
May 15 to attend a gathering organized by the ruling Democratic Party of
Japan's local chapter ahead of the upper house election this summer, sources
close to him said.
The mayors of the three Tokunoshima towns rejected earlier this week a
government proposal to meet with Hirano in Kagoshima to discuss the matter,
following a mass rally Sunday on the island to protest the base's possible
relocation there.
The Hatoyama government, which came to power last September in a historic
change of government, has spent months reexamining the existing bilateral plan,
which seeks to relocate the helicopter functions of the Futemma base in the
crowded city of Ginowan to the new airfield to be built in Nago.
==Kyodo
