Apr 19 08:32 AM US/Eastern
(AP) - TOKYO, April 19 (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama may visit Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture to brief residents on the possible relocation there of a helicopter unit from a U.S. Marine base in Okinawa Prefecture, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano suggested Monday.
Just as the government began considering Hatoyama's visit to seek the residents' acceptance of the plan, however, Hiroshi Kawauchi and other ruling Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers representing constituencies in Kagoshima asked the prime minister that the government drop the Tokunoshima plan and consider relocation from scratch.
With no prospects in sight of obtaining agreement from the local governments on Tokunoshima or gaining U.S. acceptance or agreement within the coalition government over the plan, the possible relocation of the Futemma Air Station to the island appears to be up in the air.
If Hatoyama goes to Tokunoshima and returns empty-handed, it could be seen as a blow to the government and embolden forces calling for his resignation as prime minister.
But Hirano said Monday he does not expect Hatoyama to be forced to step down as prime minister even if he fails to resolve the matter by the end of May as promised.
"As long as he is still willing to live up to the public's expectations in carrying out policies, it won't be a question of whether or not he should resign," Hirano said at a news conference.
Asked if Hatoyama needs to visit a potential host to provide explanations, the top government spokesman said, "While naturally envisioning such a thing, our position is unchanged that the government will ask what it should and explain what it should."
Hatoyama acknowledged earlier in the day that a weekend rally by the residents of Tokunoshima embodied some popular opposition to the idea, telling reporters, "I should understand it as signifying one expression of the popular will that so many Tokunoshima people gathered."
The government will take this into account when considering the relocation site for the Futemma base, he said, declining to unveil whether it plans to formally propose moving the helicopter unit to the island to the local governments there.
Hatoyama's remarks indicate he is contemplating visiting the island after weighing the intentions of people in Kagoshima and Okinawa.
Later in the day, Hatoyama apologized to the residents for causing them anxiety, telling reporters, "I have to apologize to the people of Tokunoshima for just fanning their anxieties at a time when I have not yet formally stated (a government proposal)."
"We have yet to decide on a government proposal," he added.
On the request Kawauchi and the others made, Hatoyama only said he had received the request, Kawauchi, a House of Representatives lawmaker who heads the party's Kagoshima prefectural chapter, told reporters after the meeting.
Organizers said about 15,000 people took part in Sunday's rally on Tokunoshima to protest against the possible move. The island, which lies about 200 kilometers northeast of Futemma on the main island of Okinawa, has a population of about 25,000.
The government apparently intends to negotiate with the United States mainly over the Tokunoshima relocation plan, which is reportedly favored by Hatoyama, while leaving other alternatives as options.
Before it can brief a potential host on its relocation plan, however, the government will first convene a meeting of the ministerial committee comprising the heads of the three ruling coalition parties to obtain their consent, Hirano said at an afternoon news conference, without elaborating on when such a meeting may be held.
The Social Democratic Party, whose leader Mizuho Fukushima serves as consumer affairs minister in the Cabinet, has called for the Futemma base's relocation abroad. There are voices within the party opposing the possible Tokunoshima relocation.
For its part, the United States has stuck to its position that the Marines' air and ground units, and their training facilities must be operated in an integrated manner, casting doubt on the possible relocation of only the helicopter unit to Tokunoshima.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos has effectively rejected the plan out of concern that the island is too far from Okinawa, according to sources close to bilateral ties.
Hatoyama has said he needs agreement from the United States, the ruling coalition bloc and local governments concerned to settle the dispute over where to relocate the Futemma base.
An agreement reached between the two countries in 2006 seeks to move the heliport functions of the Futemma base from the crowded city of Ginowan to an airfield to be built in a coastal area of the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, also on the main Okinawa island.
But the DPJ-led government, launched last September, has reexamined the current relocation plan with the aim of reducing the burden on the people of Okinawa, where most U.S. military facilities in Japan are located, and has set the end of next month as the deadline for resolving the matter.
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