Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010Kyodo News
The government will accelerate its efforts to pick a relocation site for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on the assumption that the victory of an anti-U.S. base candidate in the mayoral election in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, has effectively scotched plans to move the base there.
While the U.S. government wants to stick to the 2006 pact to move the Futenma facility to the coast of Camp Schwab along Nago's Henoko coast, Tokyo will now seek U.S. cooperation in picking an alternative relocation site, sources said.
"The United States will not be able to build (a new facility) in Henoko," a source close to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said. "The government will make utmost efforts to remove the dangerousness of the Futenma facility."
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano meanwhile said the government will make the decision on where to relocate the base.
There are still calls from within the Foreign and Defense ministries for Japan to stick to the current relocation plan as it has been approved by the United States and because an environmental assessment has been conducted in Henoko.
However, the Social Democratic Party, a junior coalition partner of the Democratic Party of Japan, has demanded the Futenma base be moved outside the prefecture or outside Japan, possibly to Guam.
While the SDP's policy may force Hatoyama to seek a new relocation site so he can maintain the tripartite coalition, other municipalities considered as possible alternatives have raised strong opposition.
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