Jan 29 04:33 AM US/Eastern
TOKYO, Jan. 29 (AP) - (Kyodo) — U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos reiterated Friday that moving a U.S. Marine airfield within Okinawa as agreed under a 2006 bilateral deal is the "best option," and adding that the southernmost island prefecture is becoming "more important" in the current security environment.
Given some views in Japan that the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station should even be moved outside the country, Roos warned that moving the Marines outside Japan would impact their mobility and effectiveness and could be "perceived negatively" with regard to the U.S. commitment to the Asia-Pacific region.
Roos made the remarks during a speech in Tokyo, about a week after a local mayoral election increased pressure on the Japanese government to seek an alternative to the planned relocation site in Nago, Okinawa, as the winning candidate is opposed to the relocation of the base there.
The Futemma Air Station currently sits in a crowded residential area of Ginowan, and Japan and the United States agreed in 2006 to relocate it to a less-crowded area in the city of Nago to ease the burden on local people who face noise pollution and the risk of accidents.
But the new government led by the Democratic Party of Japan is reviewing the relocation plan, which is part of a broader agreement on the realignment of U.S. forces in the country, saying it will reach a conclusion by the end of May.
"The arrangement is certainly not perfect, no compromise ever is. But what makes this issue especially difficult is that our two nations studied and debated virtually every conceivable alternative for more than a decade before deciding that the current plan is the best option," the ambassador said at Waseda University.
While noting the need to maintain deterrent capability over the long term, Roos admitted that there is a need to "reduce the footprint of our forces in heavily populated areas," as seen in Okinawa.
But referring to China's dramatic military modernization and North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, he also said, "Unfortunately, given the trends in the security environment, Okinawa is becoming not less but more important for the defense of Japan and the maintenance of peace in the region."
Roos also said that closing Futemma would not be the "end of our work" and expressed willingness to work with Japan to address the local concerns related to hosting the bases over such issues as noise and the environment.
"Much more can be done to make our bases in Japan environmentally- friendly, including for example, by using the latest green technology on base construction," he said.
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