Hatoyama finalizing plan to break deadlock over Futemma relocation+

TOKYO, Nov. 20 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Friday he has been finalizing a plan to
break the deadlock over the relocation of a U.S. military airfield in Okinawa
and expects that a Japan-U.S. high-level working group set up to examine the
matter will discuss proposals that reflect his wishes.

The premier told reporters after meeting with Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada
and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa that he is keenly aware of the need to
find a speedy solution to the issue involving the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma
Air Station, and that the government ''must recognize the extreme suffering''
of Okinawa people.
At a Diet panel earlier in the day, Okada stressed the need to settle the
matter swiftly, saying the danger posed by the Futemma facility's location in a
downtown residential area of Ginowan, central Okinawa, should be removed as
soon as possible.
Okada and Kitazawa basically share the view that Tokyo should find an answer to
where the Futemma facility should be transferred by the end of the year, but
Hatoyama, who has promoted the idea of moving the air station out of Okinawa or
abroad, has not clearly indicated the timing of his final decision.
Japan and the United States agreed in 2006 that heliport functions of the
Futemma airfield will move to the Marines' Camp Schwab in the less densely
populated area of Nago, northern Okinawa, by 2014.
But with the Japanese leader having promoted the idea of moving the air station
out of Okinawa to ease base-hosting burdens on Okinawa residents, the Futemma
relocation has emerged as a major sticking point in Japan-U.S. security ties.
The Defense Ministry has proposed that some drills conducted by F-15 fighters
from the U.S. Kadena Air Base in central Okinawa should be transferred out of
the prefecture as a condition for implementing a 2006 bilateral accord, and the
premier has been examining the plan, according to government sources.
During a press conference on Friday, Okada indicated his support for discussing
steps to reduce noise pollution at the Kadena base at the upcoming meetings of
the working group, which met for the first time on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, calls for Futemma's functions to be transferred out of Okinawa have
been growing in the southernmost prefecture.
Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima said Friday it would become ''extremely
difficult'' to move the Futemma facility to Nago as agreed upon in the 2006
pact, if an opponent of the plan wins the Nago mayoral election next January.
Incumbent Yoshikazu Shimabukuro takes a similar position to Nakaima and
conditionally accepts the relocation, but former local education board head
Susumu Inamine, who is against the Futemma transfer to Nago, is planning to
fight against the mayor.
In a related development, U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos plans to visit
Okinawa on Nov. 30 for talks with Nakaima on the Futemma relocation, sources
close to the matter said Friday in the southernmost prefecture.
Roos is expected to stay in Okinawa through Dec. 2 and inspect U.S. military
bases, they said.
==Kyodo
2009-11-20 22:48:37