ID :
125098
Mon, 05/31/2010 - 10:07
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Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/125098
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SDP to exit Hatoyama's ruling coalition over U.S. base row+
TOKYO, May 30 Kyodo -
The Social Democratic Party decided Sunday to leave Prime Minister Yukio
Hatoyama's tripartite ruling coalition, opposing an agreement between Japan and
the United States to relocate a key U.S. military base within Okinawa
Prefecture.
The decision by the small party came after Hatoyama dismissed SDP leader Mizuho
Fukushima Friday from the post of consumer affairs minister, as she refused to
sign a Cabinet resolution on the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma
Air Station, insisting it should be moved out of the island prefecture or
Japan.
The departure of the SDP may add to pressure for Hatoyama to step down ahead of
the House of Councillors election expected to be held in July. His Cabinet has
been seeing its support rate nosedive, to 19.1 percent in the latest Kyodo News
poll, over such issues as scandals involving political funds for Hatoyama and
other party members as well as the government's uphill battle to nurture
Japan's nascent economic recovery.
''If the SDP plays a role in building a new base in Okinawa, we would betray
people's trust,'' Fukushima told reporters Sunday after the party held a
meeting of its local chapter chiefs in Tokyo. She also said those regional
heads have praised her decision not to stay in the Cabinet post.
''The SDP will make full efforts to establish a new style of politics,'' the
head of the pacifist party added.
The SDP said Kiyomi Tsujimoto, one of its lawmakers and a senior vice minister
of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, will also withdraw from the
Cabinet.
''It is really disappointing,'' Tsujimoto said of the party's exit from the
coalition. But she indicated it is impossible for the SDP to make a concession
on the base issue.
The party is now considering whether it should maintain cooperation with
Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan in elections, as the upper house election
draws near, in such areas as preventing the overlapping of their candidates in
some constituencies.
Some SDP members said cooperation in elections could be maintained even after
the party's departure from the ruling coalition, if the two parties can pursue
the same goals in some policies.
Hatoyama has said he hopes that the SDP will remain in the coalition. The
People's New Party, another small coalition partner, has said it will keep
cooperating with Hatoyama.
Fukushima has criticized Hatoyama for failing to make good on his earlier
pledge to move the Futenma facility ''at least'' outside the prefecture and
soften burdens on people in Okinawa, which hosts the large part of U.S. forces
in Japan.
While refusing to answer the question of whether Hatoyama should resign,
Fukushima said on a TV program after the party made the decision that she wants
the prime minister to be a lawmaker who can ''take responsibility for his own
words.''
The SDP, which only has a total of 12 seats in the Diet houses, may aim to win
more votes in the upcoming election by leaving the coalition and giving the
impression to the public that it will not budge on policies, say political
analysts.
The Japanese and U.S. governments said in a joint statement Friday that they
will move the Marine base from the densely populated Ginowan to the Henoko
coastal area further north in Okinawa. The SDP opposes the plan, saying it
would considerably damage the environment in the coastal area.
The latest Kyodo News poll, conducted Saturday and Sunday, also showed that
51.2 percent said Hatoyama should resign as prime minister as he failed to
resolve the base row in a way he had promised to.
Hatoyama has said he would resolve the dispute by the end of May by coming up
with a relocation plan that can win approval from people in Okinawa, the DPJ's
coalition partners and the United States. But the government announced the
relocation policy on Friday after striking a deal only with Washington.
==Kyodo
2010-05-30 22:49:19
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