Hatoyama to visit Okinawa on May 4 to discuss Futemma+

TOKYO, April 28 Kyodo - Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is set to visit Okinawa Prefecture on May 4 to hold talks with the local governor amid efforts to settle the dispute over where to relocate a U.S. Marine base in the island prefecture, government sources said Wednesday.

As Hatoyama's self-imposed deadline of May 31 to settle the issue nears, he is
hoping to explain to Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima, whose stance has come
closer to opposing a relocation within Okinawa, about a plan believed to add an
environmental angle to the existing Japan-U.S. accord to relocate the U.S.
Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station within Okinawa.
''The schedule has yet to be confirmed, but I would like to visit Okinawa and
meet Gov. Nakaima at the earliest possible date,'' Hatoyama told reporters at
his office in the evening.
Also on Wednesday, the premier suggested transferring up to 1,000 Marines in
Futemma to Tokunoshima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, when he met in Tokyo with
a retired politician Torao Tokuda, who is said to still wield influence on the
island, Tokuda's son said.
But Tokuda dismissed the suggestion, according to Takeshi Tokuda, a lower house
member of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Nakaima told reporters in Okinawa that he will meet with the prime minister if
the government so desires, saying, ''Certainly I will accept (a request to
meet). It would be rude not to meet the prime minister.''
But some inside the government have reservations over Hatoyama's possible visit
to Okinawa, as the government has yet to finalize its proposal on the
relocation issue and is unable to engage in full-fledged talks about it with
the United States.
Also on Wednesday, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa presented to Hatoyama a
set of proposals for modifying the 2006 bilateral accord to relocate the
Futemma base from Ginowan to a coastal area of the U.S. Marines' Camp Schwab in
Nago, also in Okinawa.
The proposals include building a pile-supported platform in shallow waters off
the coast of Nago instead of reclaiming a large part of the sea nearby, the
government sources said.
A senior government official said the prime minister believes it is important
to ''consider the impact on the environment'' and that the proposals presented
are the result of work done by the Defense Ministry.
Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine, who won the January election on the back of the
movement opposing the base, said again Wednesday that he will not let Tokyo
build any new military facilities in the sea near the city.
''I have said 'no' to (construction of a base) either in the sea or on the
ground since the beginning,'' he said in the city of Naha.
The latest development coincided with a visit to Japan by a senior U.S. State
Department official, who held talks with Japanese foreign and defense ministry
officials the same day over the Futemma issue and other matters.
''Japan and the United States agreed to continue to cooperate to deepen the
alliance,'' the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in its press release issued
after the talks, referring to a bilateral process that is taking place as the
two countries mark the 50th anniversary of the current bilateral security pact
this year.
Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific
affairs, only said after the talks that they were ''good.''
Before coming to Japan, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia said in Hong Kong on
Monday that Tokyo's recent proposals in relation to the issue are
''encouraging,'' without elaborating on what has actually been discussed
between the two countries.
==Kyodo