April 3, 2010TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama instructed his ministers on Friday to swiftly set up a framework for working-level talks with the United States and at the same time proceed with negotiations with local governments in Okinawa over the future of the U.S. Marines' Futemma Air Station.
But Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima conveyed to Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa the same day his opposition to the base's transfer within the prefecture, saying such a plan would be "difficult" to realize amid growing calls from local residents for relocating the base outside of Okinawa.
Given the opposition and the U.S. position that a current plan is still the best, it remains unclear whether Japan will be able to resolve the matter, which has strained bilateral ties, by the end of May as Hatoyama has promised.
Hatoyama met with Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, Okinawa affairs minister Seiji Maehara and Kitazawa, all of whom are concerned with the matter, at the prime minister's office in the evening.
"I want you to set up a working-level framework" for talks with the United States, Hatoyama told the ministers at the meeting, instructing them to "play their own roles," according to Hirano.
The ministers also confirmed who among them will be responsible for consulting with the local governments that would host the site to take over Futemma's facility, Hirano told reporters after the meeting.
However, Hirano did not disclose who that may be.
Okada, who returned from the United States and Canada earlier in the day, briefed the others on his talks with the U.S. secretaries of state and defense there, while Hirano and Kitazawa reported on their talks with the Okinawa governor over the past two days, the top government spokesman said.
"I'm having (the ministers) move on the basis of my own plan right now, so I can't tell you the content (of the plan)," Hatoyama told reporters before the meeting. "I believe I can gain public acceptance based on a government idea by the end of May without fail."
The government is aiming to temporarily move a helicopter unit of the Futemma facility in Ginowan to a helipad to be built at the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, also in Okinawa and eventually to an area that would be reclaimed off the Katsuren Peninsula in the southernmost prefecture or to Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, according to diplomatic sources.
"Okinawa people strongly wish (the Futemma base) to be transferred out of the prefecture and their movement has been gaining momentum," Nakaima told reporters after meeting with Kitazawa at a Tokyo hotel. "I told the minister there is a difference in the mood between Tokyo and Okinawa."
The governor also told Kitazawa it would be difficult to implement the idea currently being studied by the government, which involves helipad construction and land reclamation within the prefecture.
Nakaima, who pressed Hirano on Thursday to brief him on a government proposal on where to relocate the Futemma airstrip once the idea becomes concrete, said he got the impression in his talks with Kitazawa that the government has yet to finalize its relocation plan, the same impression he had after holding talks with Hirano.
Kitazawa told reporters that he understood the governor's wish to see progress on the Futemma issue as soon as possible and hear about a new direction or decision by the government on the matter immediately after it is set.
"We agreed to share more information and cooperate more closely with each other from now on. I promised the governor that the central government will not make any decision without Okinawa's consent," the defense chief said.
Meanwhile, Okada said at a news conference that while he understands the United States views the current plan as the best, "the idea we have proposed is more likely to be realized if you think about its probability."
The government has been exploring an alternative to a 2006 Japan-U.S. accord under which the heliport functions of the Futemma base will be transferred by 2014 to a coastal area of Camp Schwab on land that would be reclaimed.
The prime minister has said he has his own plan for the relocation of the Futemma base and that local consent is a prerequisite for proceeding with any negotiations with Washington.
However, Kitazawa said Friday that he believes Hatoyama referred to "a basic line that integrates several options" concerning the transfer of Futemma, indicating that the premier's idea is not totally new.
Nakaima said a major rally is scheduled to be held in Okinawa on April 25. The rally to be organized by the Okinawa prefectural assembly aims to draw 100,000 people to call for the Futemma base to be transferred out of the prefecture.
(Mainichi Japan) April 3, 2010
Posts
