Hatoyama unveils base move within Okinawa, offers apology

+

NAHA, Japan, May 23 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama unveiled Sunday for the first time his
government's plan to relocate a U.S. Marine base within Okinawa and apologized
for his failure to make good on his earlier vow to move the military facility
outside the prefecture.
''We came to the conclusion that we have to ask local residents to accept the
base relocation to an area near the Henoko district'' in Nago, Okinawa, the
premier told Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima in their second meeting this month,
open to the press, at the Okinawa prefectural government office.
He said the relocation within the prefecture was a ''heartbreaking'' decision
to achieve the return of land occupied by the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air
Station to locals and extended his ''heartfelt apology for causing much
confusion'' among Okinawans in the process of reaching that conclusion.
Public support for Hatoyama's government has nosedived due to his perceived
lack of leadership on Futemma and other issues, making ruling coalition parties
jittery ahead of a House of Councillors election expected in July.
Nakaima expressed his ''extreme regret'' over the government's decision and
said he considers it ''extremely difficult'' to go ahead with the plan, because
expectations had mounted among local residents that Hatoyama would try to
transfer functions of Futemma out of the southwesternmost prefecture.
''The gap between people's expectations (and the latest government decision) is
huge. I expect the premier to take time to offer further explanations and work
out a solution that would satisfy us,'' the governor told Hatoyama.
Nakaima also told reporters later he feels the premier has ''betrayed'' Okinawa
residents.
In the meeting, Hatoyama also said he will ask other Japanese prefectures at a
meeting of governors Thursday to accept some of the U.S. military drills
currently conducted in Okinawa.
The premier said the government has given up on the plan to transfer Futemma's
heliport functions out of Okinawa due to ''remaining uncertainties in East
Asia,'' especially on the Korean Peninsula.
''As a premier, I have to say we cannot allow the situation in which deterrence
provided by the U.S. forces in Japan will diminish,'' he said.
Hatoyama later told reporters the government will try to continue negotiations
with the United States to implement measures to ease base-hosting burdens on
Okinawa beyond his self-imposed deadline of May 31 for settling the issue.
Japan and the United States broadly agreed Saturday on a fresh accord expected
to be announced on Friday which effectively states the Futemma facility in the
populous city of Ginowan will be moved to land to be created through filling in
the sea near the Marines' Camp Schwab at Cape Henoko in Nago, sources close to
the matter said.
The fresh agreement is effectively on par with an existing relocation plan
under a 2006 Japan-U.S. accord aimed at transferring the Futemma functions
within Okinawa, while relocating around 8,000 Marines to Guam from there, both
by 2014.
Nakaima told reporters of his displeasure at the government's attitude in
offering explanations to Okinawa after reaching a framework agreement with
Washington.
About 1,000 local protesters staged a rally outside of the prefectural
government office, calling on Hatoyama to abandon the plan to relocate the base
within the prefecture. Many of them held up a card bearing a Chinese character
for ''anger.''
During his one-day trip, the premier also met with Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine
and 11 other local municipality heads in Nago and faced a strong backlash from
the mayor, who was elected in January on his opposition to the Futemma
relocation plan.
''I cannot hide my rage at the new Japan-U.S. accord as it betrays the
sentiment of people in Nago and Okinawa, who have called for the (Futemma)
transfer out of the prefecture,'' Inamine told Hatoyama.
''As Nago mayor, I express my firm opposition to the Futemma relocation to
Henoko. Nago needs no new base,'' the mayor said in his remarks.
After the meeting, Inamine told reporters that the possibility of realizing the
Futemma move to his city is ''close to zero,'' as local opposition has been
gaining momentum recently. The mayor also said Hatoyama did not provide
specific information on how the envisioned replacement facility would be built.
The mayors urged Hatoyama to have the Japanese government request the United
States to try to reduce the incidence of crimes and accidents associated with
the U.S. military presence, saying no other Japanese municipalities would
accept the U.S. base relocation under the current circumstances, according to
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yorihisa Matsuno.
The premier pledged to press Washington to maintain discipline among the U.S.
military personnel in Japan, said Matsuno, who accompanied Hatoyama.
In the afternoon, the premier held talks with local business representatives in
Naha with the intention of discussing measures to invigorate the local economy,
but the participants, infuriated by the government's relocation plan, made the
base issue the focus of the talks instead.
In a related move, Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the Social Democratic Party,
told reporters in Fukuoka she is against the plan unveiled by the premier to
move the Futemma facility to Nago.
The SDP is a coalition partner of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan led by
Hatoyama. Fukushima did not comment on the possibility of the SDP leaving the
three-way coalition government.
Wrapping up his trip to Okinawa, which included a visit to a Naha memorial
museum dedicated to civilian casualties of a 1944 U.S. torpedo attack on a
Japanese ship during World War II, the premier told reporters he will
''continue to seek the support of the SDP in the coalition government.''
Before coming to power, the premier had pledged during an election campaign
last summer that he would seek to move Futemma functions out of Okinawa
altogether to ease the prefecture's base-hosting burdens, such as noise
pollution and concerns over accidents and crimes associated with the U.S.
military presence.
Okinawa hosts about 75 percent of the land area used for U.S. military
facilities in Japan and half of the roughly 50,000 U.S. service personnel in
the country.
The premier repeated his apology before leaving Okinawa in the evening, telling
reporters that he ''sincerely regrets'' his failure to meet growing
expectations for the base removal among Okinawans.
Hatoyama told Nago and other municipal heads that he is ''aware of the weight
of my words as a politician,'' according to Matsuno.
==Kyodo
2010-05-23 21:41:02