Japan can meet deadline for relocating U.S. base in Okinawa: Hatoyama+

TOKYO, Dec. 16 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Wednesday that Japan can still meet the 2014
deadline for relocating a U.S. military base in Okinawa despite the government
putting off a decision on the issue and deciding to seek an alternative site to
the one previously agreed.
Hatoyama made the remark after the commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps cast
doubt on the prospects of Japan meeting the 2014 deadline stated in the 2006
Japan-U.S. agreement to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station
elsewhere in Okinawa.
''Now that we've got some time, which is several months, the ruling parties and
the government will do their utmost to consider and study relocation sites and
reach a conclusion,'' Hatoyama told reporters. ''It's quite possible that we
can reach one more speedily than before.''
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said the same day that Japan basically
intends to abide by the agreement, known also as the ''road map'' on the
realignment of U.S. forces in the country, while seeking a new site to relocate
the Futemma base.
Washington has expressed concern that any delay in implementing the existing
relocation plan would affect the entire road map because the transfer of 8,000
Okinawa-based Marines to Guam, another key part of the agreement, is contingent
on the completion of a new airfield to be built on the Japanese island to
replace Futemma.
''The government takes the position that it will not seek to change the current
road map for the U.S. military,'' Hirano said at a news conference. ''But on
the issue of bases in Okinawa,'' he said, ''the three parties (forming
Hatoyama's coalition government) should be thinking in a forward-looking
manner.''
He then suggested that a modification could be made to the road map, saying,
''There could be some variations in future negotiations between Japan and the
United States.''
In the United States on Tuesday, the Marine commandant, Gen. James Conway,
regretted Japan's postponement of a decision on the relocation issue, saying
that any delay on the matter is likely to lead to the 2014 deadline being
missed.
Defending his government's decision, Hatoyama told reporters on Wednesday
morning that Japan has its own policy and that ''there is no better conclusion
than this if you think about the current situation in Okinawa.''
During a meeting with main opposition Liberal Democratic Party President
Sadakazu Tanigaki later in the day, Hatoyama, who doubles as president of the
Democratic Party of Japan, expressed the same intention to meet the deadline
for the Futemma relocation, according to a participant at the meeting.
While Tanigaki criticized the government's postponement as making the solution
of the issue more difficult, Hatoyama was quoted as telling him, ''If you move
things forward forcefully, local sentiment would worsen and things would rather
get harder for moving forward.''
Hatoyama acknowledged the impact that the mayoral election in Nago next month,
where the Futemma base will be moved under the existing plan, could have on
discussions about the issue, but stressed that the national government will
make the final decision.
The election is expected to be fought between the incumbent, who endorsed the
existing relocation plan, and a DPJ-backed challenger who opposes it, with the
relocation issue set to be a focal point.
Meanwhile, Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the Social Democratic Party, a junior
partner in the coalition government, visited Okinawa on Wednesday to survey the
Henoko area in Nago and meet with officials.
In a meeting with Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima, Fukushima said, ''I think we
can hang in there together for (the base's) relocation outside the prefecture
or the country.''
Nakaima replied, ''I too have been saying (moving the base) outside the
prefecture would be best.''
Hatoyama said Tuesday he will seek a new relocation site for the Futemma base
other than the one stipulated in the existing plan, adding that he would need
several months to reach a conclusion on the issue.
Hatoyama's DPJ, which trounced the long-ruling LDP in August's general
election, heads a three-month-old coalition government with the People's New
Party and the SDP, whose votes it needs to pass bills in the House of
Councillors.
As the Hatoyama government has reviewed the relocation plan, which was put
together under the previous LDP-led government, the SDP has called for moving
the Futemma base outside of the southernmost prefecture or abroad to lighten
the burden on the people of Okinawa.
Okinawa hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan.
==Kyodo