Hatoyama to visit Okinawa over U.S. base issue Tues., 1st trip as PM+

TOKYO, April 30 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will visit Okinawa Prefecture on Tuesday to hold
talks with Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima on the issue of where to relocate a U.S.
Marine base in the southernmost prefecture, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi
Hirano said Friday.
In his first visit to Okinawa since taking power last September, Hatoyama, who
is aiming to end this row by May 31, is expected to explain to the governor
that he plans to build a pile-supported facility on the coast of the U.S.
Marine Corps' Camp Schwab in Nago to relocate the Marines' Futemma Air Station
in Ginowan there, instead of reclaiming land from the sea on the coast in line
with an existing accord.
''What's important is the opinion of the people, especially that of people on
Okinawa,'' Hatoyama told reporters in the evening. ''I've been working based on
that belief. That's why I would like to visit there.''
''I want to explain to them how the government is thinking about the relocation
at this point,'' he said.
The Democratic Party of Japan-led government is also planning to transfer up to
1,000 Marines or some of the drills at Futemma to Tokunoshima Island in
Kagoshima Prefecture, about 200 kilometers northeast of Okinawa.
Hirano said a detailed schedule for the premier's visit has yet to be fixed,
but according to government sources Hatoyama will likely meet with Nago Mayor
Susumu Inamine and residents on Okinawa, and visit Futemma, Camp Schwab and
other locations concerned.
But it is unlikely that his plan will win the go-ahead from local residents, as
people on Okinawa are still hoping Hatoyama will move Futemma outside the
prefecture to keep the pledge he made during last year's election campaign and
people on Tokunoshima are dead set against hosting any U.S. military facility.
In the Okinawan capital of Naha, Nakaima on Friday displayed displeasure about
the government's reported plan of transferring Futemma within Okinawa.
''I wonder by what process the government has ended up with a plan to move it
within the prefecture against (Hatoyama's) campaign pledge,'' he said. ''I
wonder how seriously the government has examined relocation sites outside
Okinawa.''
Nakaima said he will demand again that Futemma be relocated outside the
prefecture as Hatoyama pledged.
The premier has also met with fierce opposition from the Social Democratic
Party, one of the DPJ's two coalition partners.
SDP chief Mizuho Fukushima, who is also minister in charge of declining
birthrate issues and consumer affairs, said in a press conference Friday she
told Hatoyama over the phone earlier in the day that she doubts his plan is
something people in Okinawa have hoped for even if it does not involve land
reclamation.
Fukushima hinted late last year at breaking with the tripartite coalition if
Futemma remains in Okinawa.
But Hatoyama said, ''We will continue coordinating (with the partners) and put
together a government plan.''
Asked by reporters what he means by saying he will ''solve the issue by the end
of May,'' Hatoyama said he would view it a ''settlement'' if the government
agrees on a general direction for a solution with Washington officials, people
in Okinawa and those in the areas that may become the new host.
Tokyo and Washington agreed in 2006 to reclaim land from the sea off Camp
Schwab and to transfer Futemma there, but Hatoyama has been seeking an
alternative plan to ease the burden on Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S.
forces stationed in Japan, and reduce the impact on the local marine
environment.
On a possible relocation of Marines or drills to Tokunoshima, which is home to
about 27,000 people, Hatoyama visited Torao Tokuda, a key figure on the island,
at his home in Tokyo on Wednesday in a failed attempt to gain support from the
retired politician.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirano said Friday that he is still looking to meet
with mayors of the three towns on the island to explain to them what the
government is planning for the relocation and offer apologies for causing them
concern.
==Kyodo
2010-04-30 23:29:42


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