Japan to give up on seeking Hatoyama-Obama talks to discuss base issue

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TOKYO, Dec. 10 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama suggested Thursday he would give up on the idea
of trying to hold a one-on-one meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in
Copenhagen next week to discuss the issue of relocating a U.S. Marines Corps
airfield in Okinawa, after Washington shunned the Japanese leader's overtures.
Hatoyama also indicated that conveying his government's policy on the issue to
Washington may not be possible by Dec. 18 as planned, saying Tokyo now plans to
fix its policy by the end of the month.
In Guam, meanwhile, Gov. Felix Camacho expressed a negative view Wednesday
about relocating the Marines' Futemma Air Station to the U.S. territory in the
Pacific, while Tokyo explores an alternative to the base's planned relocation
within Okinawa to reduce base-hosting burdens on the local people.
While the United States is urging Japan to stick to the bilaterally agreed
relocation in Japan's southernmost prefecture, Congress agreed not to
significantly cut the budget for a related realignment plan.
Since the Hatoyama government came to power in September with its idea of
moving the Futemma base out of Okinawa or abroad, it has sought to review a
2006 relocation accord with Washington.
Under the broad bilateral agreement on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan,
Futemma's flight functions are to be relocated to a new facility to be built in
a less crowded part of Okinawa, and 8,000 Marines will be transferred from
Okinawa to Guam by 2014.
On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs cast doubts on the
possibility of a Hatoyama-Obama meeting on the sidelines of the global climate
conference in Copenhagen, saying they met just last month in Tokyo.
''In terms of making progress, I think this was discussed just a couple weeks
ago, and I think the working group, we would believe, is the best way to
continue that progress,'' Gibbs told reporters, referring to a high-level
bilateral working group whose talks have recently been suspended.
In Indonesia, Hatoyama said he too would find it difficult to hold a summit,
citing time constraints. ''There will be very big discussions about climate
change (in Copenhagen), and I share the view that much of the time would be
spent on it,'' he told reporters. ''So it's not such an easy thing (to meet
bilaterally with Obama).''
On the likelihood of missing the self-imposed Dec. 18 deadline on relaying
Japan's policy to Washington, Hatoyama said, ''We've been meaning to decide
what policy we should embrace by the end of the year.''
With regard to Washington's reluctance to consider the summit, a source
involved in bilateral relations said the U.S. side thinks that it is no use
hearing what Hatoyama has to say about the Futemma issue, which has reached the
point of endless stalemate, at the high-profile event on climate change.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano suggested Thursday that the working
group may resume talks with a new mission once the Japanese government decides
on how it should approach the Futemma issue.
''There may be working-level consultations with slight changes in content,''
Hirano said at a news conference, noting that the suspended talks were merely
to ''review'' the Futemma relocation deal.
In Guam, Camacho said after talks with visiting Japanese Defense Minister
Toshimi Kitazawa that it would be difficult to relocate the Futemma base to the
Pacific island -- an idea floated by the Social Democratic Party, which has
threatened to leave Hatoyama's coalition government if he sticks to relocation
within Okinawa.
''We are already challenged with the present numbers of the relocation of 8,000
Marines, and moving the entire Futemma base would not be possible due to our
limited resources and capacity,'' he said, according to a news release from his
office.
In a separate development on Wednesday, the U.S. House and Senate agreed to
earmark about $300 million in spending for the Marines' Guam relocation from
Okinawa after restoring a substantial part of a fiscal 2010 budget bill that
had been cut, congressional sources said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates had warned in October that if the Futemma
relocation is not followed through, Congress would not approve the allocation.
During his three-day visit to Guam, Kitazawa said it would be difficult to
implement the base relocation to Guam, drawing sharp criticism from the SDP,
whose votes Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan needs to pass measures in the
House of Councillors.
Hatoyama said he intends to hear from the defense chief about his intentions on
Friday. He will apparently brief the leaders of the SDP and the People's New
Party, the DPJ's other junior partner, on the matter when they meet Friday
evening.
Hirano, the top government spokesman, rebuked Kitazawa about the remark over
the phone on Thursday by telling him it was made too casually and caused
misunderstanding, a ruling party lawmaker said.
Kitazawa visited the Pacific island this week, where Japanese-financed projects
are under way to build facilities and other infrastructure to host the Marines
and their roughly 9,000 dependents. Worries about a lack of capacity, however,
have risen.
==Kyodo