FOCUS: Ozawa`s power, Hatoyama`s ulterior motives lie behind Futemma delay

TOKYO, Dec. 5 Kyodo -
Behind Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's indecisiveness on the future of a U.S.
military base in Okinawa Prefecture seems to be the firm determination of his
former boss, Ichiro Ozawa, to keep a grip on parliament and even a bigger
ulterior motive of the two politicians.
Hatoyama, head of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, has put on hold a
decision on where to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station, as
the leader of a junior partner in the coalition has threatened to leave it if
the DPJ goes ahead and moves the base within the prefecture under the existing
Japan-U.S. deal.
The threat by Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima came as Foreign
Minister Katsuya Okada and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa were seeking to
solve the relocation issue by the end of this year.
Hatoyama is putting more weight on maintaining power in parliament over the
already soured relationship with Washington, which has pressed Japan to resolve
it quickly and move the Futemma base in line with the accord.
The DPJ, which won a landslide victory in the August election for the House of
Representatives, had to form a coalition with two small partners despite
differences over security and foreign policies, as it needs their cooperation
in the House of Councillors.
Speculation is now growing that a decision on the U.S. base issue will not be
made until after next year's upper house election, in which the DPJ is widely
expected to secure a majority and it can decisively break off what appears to
be an awkward coalition.
Political observers say that behind the delay is DPJ Secretary General Ozawa
who is widely believed to have wielded his influence behind the scenes over the
Hatoyama government since its launch in mid-September.
According to sources close to Ozawa, he has pressured the prime minister's
office and Defense Minister Kitazawa to deal with the relocation issue in a way
that would not result in the collapse of the coalition.
At the upper house, the DPJ currently holds less than a majority and needs to
join hands with the two parties -- the SDP and the People's New Party -- to
ensure smooth passage of legislation.
Eiken Itagaki, an independent political analyst who is well-versed in DPJ
politics, said that Ozawa warned that the government needs to avoid what the
previous Liberal Democratic Party-led government had gone through in a divided
parliament.
But there is also a view among some pundits that Hatoyama simply used the
coalition partner's threat as a reason for delaying a decision, as he himself
hopes to move not just the Futemma air station but also the entire U.S.
military facility outside Okinawa or even outside the country and wanted to
take time to find a better solution.
Since the DPJ was in the opposition camp, Hatoyama has repeatedly made comments
to that effect.
''I truly wonder if it is appropriate that a military of another country will
continue to station in this country forever,'' he said a few weeks after taking
office in mid-September.
Kazuhiro Asano, professor in politics at Sapporo University, said should the
DPJ kick the SDP out of the coalition after the election, ''I don't think Prime
Minister Hatoyama will decide to move the Futemma facility to Henoko.''
Under the 2006 deal, Tokyo and Washington agreed to transfer the Futemma air
station, which currently sits in the center of a residential area in the city
of Ginowan, to the coastal area of the Henoko district in Nago, another Okinawa
city, by 2014.
Hatoyama has indicated that he wants to wait and see the results of the Nago
city mayoral election scheduled for January to determine the will of local
voters before making any decision on the relocation.
''He is looking for evidence and reasons that would help him decide to move the
base outside the prefecture,'' Asano of Sapporo University said.
Ozawa, a former DPJ chief, is also against hosting another country's military
in Japan and once advocated for the stationing of a United Nations-sponsored
military for the defense of the country.
Itagaki said both Ozawa and Hatoyama are truly seeking a foreign policy stance
that depends less on the United States and more on close relationships with
such other countries as China and Russia, as promised in the party's campaign
pledges.
Ozawa has once expressed the view that the role of the U.S. military in Japan
should be trimmed down, saying the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet based in Yokosuka
would be ''enough for the U.S. presence in the Far East.''
At the bottom of it, the foreign policy that Ozawa and Hatoyama are pursuing
over a long term is not so different from that of Fukushima, chief of the
pacifist, leftist SDP, the analyst said, suggesting that the DPJ may end up
keeping the party in the coalition even after the upper house election.
Recently floated ideas include transferring the Futemma facility to the U.S.
territory of Guam, a Japanese coastal airport or a remote island, according to
several government sources.
==Kyodo