Mar 31 11:22 PM US/Eastern
NEW YORK, March 31 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Wednesday he has told the United States that an undisclosed Japanese proposal for the relocation of a key U.S. Marines base in Okinawa Prefecture is more feasible than the current plan agreed in 2006 with the United States.
Japan plans to hold discussions with the United States to see if the new proposal would be able to secure deterrence and allow the U.S. Marines to continue to operate effectively, Okada told reporters after attending a U.N. conference in New York on rebuilding quake-hit Haiti.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has been working on the new plan, pledging to settle the Futemma Air Station relocation issue by the end of May.
The prospect of forging an agreement is believed to be dim as the United States has repeatedly said the current relocation plan is the best.
Okada said he requested U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in their talks Monday in Washington to study the alternative proposal as it is difficult to implement the current plan.
Okada said the central government will discuss the new plan with local governments in Okinawa Prefecture but the local governments have reportedly expressed opposition to it.
Okada is expected to brief Hatoyama about his talks with U.S. officials after his return home Friday Japan time.
The Japanese idea involves the provisional transfer of Futemma's helicopter unit functions to the inland part of the Marines' Camp Schwab, and eventual relocation to an area off the coast of the U.S. Navy's White Beach facility in Uruma, both in Okinawa, or Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, according to sources familiar with the issue.
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