Japan, U.S. agree to set up working group over U.S. base issue+

TOKYO, Nov. 10 Kyodo -
(EDS: UPDATING WITH ANNOUNCEMENT)
Japan and the United States on Tuesday agreed to set up a ministerial-level
working group to discuss the relocation of a major U.S. Marine Corps airfield
in Japan's Okinawa Prefecture, Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said,
but prospects remain dim for a swift settlement of the contentious issue.

Okada told a regular press conference that the agreement, reached during his
talks with U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos just days before U.S. President
Barack Obama's visit to Japan, ''should not necessarily be taken'' as a sign
that the United States may make a concession to Japan on the issue.
''Ambassador Roos said that this will not mean a change to the United States'
existing view on the matter,'' Okada said, apparently referring to U.S. calls
for Japan to swiftly abide by an existing bilateral deal to relocate the U.S.
Marines Corps' Futemma Air Station within Okinawa Prefecture.
Okada also said that the planned launch of the working group is to seek
''swift'' settlement of the issue, but he did not refer to a specific timeframe
within which the working group should reach a conclusion.
The latest agreement is a sign that the two governments feel the need to
continue making adjustments on the issue involving Futemma Air Station, further
dampening prospects for a settlement of the matter by the end of the year as
urged by Washington.
''The new framework is just a last-ditch measure to shelve the problem, and it
could just end up being in name only,'' a Japanese Defense Ministry source
said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The move is also apparently intended to avoid highlighting a rift between the
two countries when Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama holds talks with
Obama on Friday in Japan.
Okada made the announcement in Tokyo shortly before heading to Singapore to
attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ministerial meeting. Okada will
meet bilaterally with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday on
the sidelines to make final arrangements for the summit meeting between
Hatoyama and Obama.
The Futemma relocation issue has emerged as a major sticking point between the
United States and Japan since the September launch of the new Japanese
coalition government, which has pledged to move toward reviewing the planned
realignment of U.S. forces in Japan as part of its policy to seek more
''equal'' Japan-U.S. ties.
The Japanese foreign and defense ministers as well as their U.S. counterparts
will serve as representatives on the working group. The U.S. ambassador to
Japan will represent the U.S. government on behalf of Clinton or U.S. Defense
Secretary Robert Gates if the need arises, according to the Japanese Foreign
Ministry.
Under the bilateral accord struck in May 2006, the heliport functions of the
Futemma Air Station, located in a downtown residential area of Ginowan, are set
to be moved to the less densely populated city of Nago, northern Okinawa, by
2014.
The Japanese government has yet to work out a clear policy on the issue, with
Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa supportive of the existing bilateral deal and
Okada studying the possibility of transferring Futemma to the nearby U.S.
Kadena Air Base.
Hatoyama, before becoming prime minister in September, had insisted that he
will seek to move Futemma outside Okinawa, or even outside Japan.
But he recently said he would like to assess the Nago mayoral election in
January and take his time -- by around next summer -- in reaching a decision.
==Kyodo