Hirano asks local backers to urge Tokunoshima mayors to OK U.S. drills

KAGOSHIMA, Japan, May 16 Kyodo -
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano on Sunday asked local advocates for
accepting the transfer of some helicopter drills from a U.S. military base in
Okinawa Prefecture to Tokunoshima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, to urge the
mayors of three affected towns on the island to agree to the move.
In a meeting at a hotel in Kagoshima city, southwestern Japan, the top central
government spokesman made the request to members of a local group that supports
hosting some of the drills of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station's
helicopter unit, meeting participants said.
Earlier in May, the mayors of Isen, Tokunoshima and Amagi rejected Prime
Minister Yukio Hatoyama's request to accommodate some functions of Futemma,
whose relocation plans have been deadlocked as the government seeks to modify
the scheme agreed on with the United States in 2006.
''We are thinking of setting up another meeting between the three town mayors
and the government,'' Hirano was quoted as telling the local group members,
asking for their cooperation in encouraging the mayors to accept the meeting.
The members asked that the helicopter drills be moved to Tokunoshima Island at
an early time, according to the participants.
Hirano also met Saturday with business people from Tokunoshima Island,
following his talks Wednesday with five town assembly members from the island,
and told them that the government would expand Tokunoshima airport by
reclaiming land nearby if the drill transfer is accepted.
Japan and the United States agreed in 2006 on a plan to relocate the heliport
functions of Futemma from Ginowan to the coastal area of Nago, also in Okinawa
Prefecture, by reclaiming land and building two runways in a V-shaped
configuration.
But Tokyo is now proposing to build a pile-supported runway in shallow waters
off the coast of Nago and to transfer some of the drills to Tokunoshima Island
and other locations.
Washington, however, has shown reluctance to accept the draft plan, citing the
risk of a terrorist attack being launched from beneath the runway as well as
the detrimental impact on the marine environment, according to sources close to
the bilateral negotiations.
There is also disagreement within the Hatoyama Cabinet, with consumer affairs
minister Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the Social Democratic Party, saying she
will not approve the Japanese government's plan.
''The SDP clearly opposes a plan to damage the seas of Okinawa to create a new
(military) base,'' Fukushima told reporters in Miyazaki. ''We cannot force an
additional burden and sacrifice on Okinawa.''
Shizuka Kamei, leader of the People's New Party, another junior coalition
partner of Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan, suggested in a speech in
Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, that the government should not stick to its
self-imposed May 31 deadline for resolving the relocation dispute, saying it is
a ''matter of course'' that trying to settle the issue, something the previous
Liberal Democratic Party-led government could not do, would take time.
''There is no need to try settling (the issue) in haste with a scheme that can
satisfy the United States,'' said Kamei, who concurrently serves as financial
services minister and postal reform minister. He added that the existing deal
agreed between the two countries was crafted ''from head to toe for the
benefits of major construction companies and others'' and that the United
States accepted it ''by compromise.''
Hatoyama is set to seek Cabinet consent of the government's Futemma relocation
draft plan by the end of May. A Cabinet consent is short of a binding Cabinet
decision and is meant to confirm the government's policy on an issue that can
normally be decided on by the minister in charge.
==Kyodo