Kan visits Okinawa amid lack of progress over U.S. base relocation+

NAHA, Japan, Dec. 17 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Naoto Kan visited Okinawa Prefecture on Friday as tensions with
local authorities over the relocation of a U.S. military base showed no signs
of easing.
During talks with Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima, Kan apologized that the
government, led by the Democratic Party of Japan, has caused local people more
concern over the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station.
Kan said, ''As a Japanese, I feel sorry, and as a politician I'm terribly
ashamed'' of letting the prefecture host the bulk of U.S. military forces
stationed in Japan under a bilateral security accord.
Around 75 percent of the land used exclusively by the U.S. military in Japan is
located in Okinawa, which accounts for only 0.6 percent of the country's
territory.
Securing Okinawa's acceptance of a plan to relocate the air base within the
prefecture, agreed on earlier this year by Tokyo and Washington, is one of the
many problems facing Kan, who is now struggling with low approval ratings for
his six-month-old government.
Kan told the governor, who was reelected for a four-year term in late November,
that the plan may not be the best for Okinawa but is still a viable and
''better'' option to address the risks of maintaining the base in a crowded
residential area of Ginowan.
Kan also said that he has no intention of taking a high-handed approach to
advance the plan.
But Nakaima once again demanded that the government review the Japan-U.S.
accord and move the base out of the prefecture.
When he met with the press later, Nakaima expressed his annoyance at Kan's
usage of the word ''better'' in explaining the relocation plan during the
meeting.
''I didn't understand what he was saying,'' the governor said. ''It is
impossible to allow it (the base) to stay in the prefecture.''
Kan told Nakaima that the government is considering allowing the prefecture to
receive preferential tax treatment in fiscal 2011.
''I will prepare a reasonable size'' of tax revenues for Okinawa, Kan said.
Kan told reporters later in the day that he is determined to move the Futenma
base as keeping it in the residential district is too dangerous.
''Of course, there are differences of opinion with the governor and many people
in Okinawa, but I will continue to discuss the matter with them in a cordial
manner,'' the premier said after inspecting an information technology business
center in the city of Uruma.
Japan and the United States agreed in May to relocate the Futenma air base in a
densely populated area of Ginowan to a less crowded part of the southwestern
island.
The deal has met with strong opposition because Kan's predecessor, Yukio
Hatoyama, had raised hopes that the base would be moved out of the prefecture.
Kan has said the purpose of his visit, the second since he became prime
minister in June, is to learn about the real situation in the prefecture. He is
slated to visit the Futenma base on Saturday.
In November, Kan promised U.S. President Barack Obama during talks in Yokohama
that Japan would keep to the bilateral agreement and that he would make the
utmost efforts to relocate the base to a coastal area in Nago.
However, Kan told reporters in early December that Japan will not put a
deadline on settling the relocation issue, despite his plan to visit the United
States next spring to release a joint statement with Obama on the two
countries' long-standing security alliance.
The latest visit came after his Cabinet approved new national defense
guidelines in the morning.
In the guidelines, the government says, among other things, that China's
military buildup has become a matter of concern for the region and the
international community and that for the peace and safety of Japan, its
alliance with the United States is ''indispensable.''
Kan's last visit in June was to attend a ceremony to mark the 65th anniversary
of the end of the Battle of Okinawa, in which over 200,000 soldiers and
civilians died in the closing days of World War II.
==Kyodo