ID :
119915
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 07:12
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/119915
The shortlink copeid
Tokunoshima mayors to meet with Hatoyama over Futemma in Tokyo Fri.+
TOKUNOSHIMA, Japan, May 2 Kyodo -
The mayors of three towns on Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture will
meet with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in Tokyo on Friday to convey their
opposition to an idea to transfer some of the U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa
to the island, one of the mayors said Sunday.
The three will meet Hatoyama at the prime minister's office, Amagi Mayor Kosuke
Ohisa said. Hatoyama is scheduled to visit Okinawa on Tuesday for meetings with
local leaders including Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima.
The Tokunoshima mayors said Saturday that they had decided to ask for a meeting
with Hatoyama through Kagoshima Gov. Yuichiro Ito to directly convey residents'
opposition to the idea.
The mayors last month rejected a meeting with Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi
Hirano over the issue of relocating the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station
in Okinawa.
Later Saturday, Hatoyama said he appreciated the fact that the three mayors had
come around to the idea of meeting with him. ''I hope to meet with them as soon
as possible,'' the prime minister told reporters.
The clock is ticking for Hatoyama as he is struggling to settle the Futemma
base relocation issue by his self-imposed deadline of May 31.
Japan and the United States agreed in 2006 to relocate the heliport functions
of the Futemma base, located in the middle of Ginowan, to a coastal area of the
Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa, by building runways on land to be
reclaimed.
But Hatoyama, whose government was inaugurated last September after a historic
general election victory, is seeking an alternative plan to ease the burden on
Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. forces stationed in Japan.
Hatoyama is mulling an idea that would involve moving up to 1,000 of the around
2,500 troops stationed at the Futemma base to Tokunoshima or shifting some of
the drills currently conducted at Futemma to the island.
In addition to the transfer to Tokunoshima, Hatoyama is also eyeing the
construction of a pile-supported facility off the coast of the Marines' Camp
Schwab instead of reclaiming land in line with the existing bilateral accord.
The alternative, involving a platform supported by steel pillars driven into
the seabed, is regarded as less damaging to the environment than reclamation.
The government is hoping to secure the consent of local communities for the
relocation of the Futemma base to Nago with the modified plan.
Hatoyama's upcoming trip, his first to Okinawa as prime minister, will take him
to the Futemma airfield as well as Camp Schwab. Also on Tuesday, Japan and the
United States plan to begin full working-level talks in Tokyo in an effort to
resolve the relocation issue.
==Kyodo
The mayors of three towns on Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture will
meet with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in Tokyo on Friday to convey their
opposition to an idea to transfer some of the U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa
to the island, one of the mayors said Sunday.
The three will meet Hatoyama at the prime minister's office, Amagi Mayor Kosuke
Ohisa said. Hatoyama is scheduled to visit Okinawa on Tuesday for meetings with
local leaders including Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima.
The Tokunoshima mayors said Saturday that they had decided to ask for a meeting
with Hatoyama through Kagoshima Gov. Yuichiro Ito to directly convey residents'
opposition to the idea.
The mayors last month rejected a meeting with Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi
Hirano over the issue of relocating the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station
in Okinawa.
Later Saturday, Hatoyama said he appreciated the fact that the three mayors had
come around to the idea of meeting with him. ''I hope to meet with them as soon
as possible,'' the prime minister told reporters.
The clock is ticking for Hatoyama as he is struggling to settle the Futemma
base relocation issue by his self-imposed deadline of May 31.
Japan and the United States agreed in 2006 to relocate the heliport functions
of the Futemma base, located in the middle of Ginowan, to a coastal area of the
Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa, by building runways on land to be
reclaimed.
But Hatoyama, whose government was inaugurated last September after a historic
general election victory, is seeking an alternative plan to ease the burden on
Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. forces stationed in Japan.
Hatoyama is mulling an idea that would involve moving up to 1,000 of the around
2,500 troops stationed at the Futemma base to Tokunoshima or shifting some of
the drills currently conducted at Futemma to the island.
In addition to the transfer to Tokunoshima, Hatoyama is also eyeing the
construction of a pile-supported facility off the coast of the Marines' Camp
Schwab instead of reclaiming land in line with the existing bilateral accord.
The alternative, involving a platform supported by steel pillars driven into
the seabed, is regarded as less damaging to the environment than reclamation.
The government is hoping to secure the consent of local communities for the
relocation of the Futemma base to Nago with the modified plan.
Hatoyama's upcoming trip, his first to Okinawa as prime minister, will take him
to the Futemma airfield as well as Camp Schwab. Also on Tuesday, Japan and the
United States plan to begin full working-level talks in Tokyo in an effort to
resolve the relocation issue.
==Kyodo
