Japan to defer decision on Futenma relocation until after November

TOKYO, July 26 Kyodo -
The Japanese government plans to defer a decision on a specific scheme for the
relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station within Okinawa
Prefecture until after the Okinawa gubernatorial election in late November,
government sources said Sunday.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan and related members of his Cabinet, including Foreign
Minister Katsuya Okada and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, are expected to
discuss the matter on Tuesday to confirm the deferral plan, the sources said.
The move comes as Japanese and U.S. experts are working on completing a study
on the technical details of the planned Futenma relocation by the end of
August, based on a bilateral accord on the base transfer reached in May.
But the Japanese government intends to consider multiple options, not just the
relocation plan to be compiled by the experts, the sources said.
The government has determined that concluding a detailed plan with the United
States before the Nov. 28 Okinawa gubernatorial election would not be wise,
considering that the base transfer also requires cooperation from local
governments, whose opposition to relocating the base within the southwestern
prefecture remains strong, according to the sources.
An election is also scheduled in September for the municipal assembly of Nago,
where the heliport functions of the Futenma base are set to be moved.
The United States may object to the government's plan to defer the final scheme
for the Futenma relocation as well as to consider proposals other than the one
being compiled by the experts from the two countries.
Japan and the United States said in their joint statement in May that the
''verification and validation'' of the experts' study results would be
completed by the time the foreign and defense ministers of the two countries
next meet.
At the time, the next bilateral ministerial meeting, dubbed the
''two-plus-two'' security meeting, was envisioned for September, on the
sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session in New York.
But after Kan became prime minister in early June, the government began to feel
that dialogue between the Japanese and U.S. governments on the matter should
not proceed prior to the Okinawa gubernatorial election, the sources said.
The development could also cast a shadow over U.S. President Barack Obama's
trip to Japan scheduled in November.
The joint statement agreed in late May by the Japanese and U.S. foreign and
defense ministers calls for the two countries to reach a conclusion by the end
of August on the specific location, construction method and other details of
the facility in Cape Henoko, Nago, to replace Futenma, located in the crowded
city of Ginowan.
The multiple options that the Japanese government will consider are expected to
center on constructing either two runways in a V-shaped configuration or a
single runway, the sources said. In either case, the location would be on
reclaimed land in the Henoko area.
Japan has been proposing a single 1,800-meter runway, saying that would reduce
the area of landfill required for the construction, but the United States has
been pushing for two runways in a V-shaped formation, as agreed earlier, saying
that would allow fighters to avoid flying over nearby residential areas.
==Kyodo