Friday, April 2, 2010

Okinawa gov. presses Tokyo for Futemma relocation proposal

    April 2, 2010

    TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima pressed Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano on Thursday to brief him on a government proposal for where to relocate a U.S. Marine base in the southernmost prefecture once it becomes concrete.

    The talks came ahead of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's expected consultation with his Cabinet ministers over how the government should proceed with its negotiations with the United States and the local governments affected by the eventual transfer of the Futemma Air Station.

    "I got the impression that (the government) isn't at the stage where it can tell us the proposal, including how much that has been finalized or not finalized," Nakaima told reporters after his meeting with Hirano at a Tokyo hotel in the evening.

    Hirano mentioned no specific place for Futemma's prospective relocation, the governor said.

    "I explained to (Hirano) the mood in my prefecture -- that there are strong calls among the people for (the base's relocation) outside of the prefecture," he said.

    Noting he has not yet been informed of a government proposal that Hatoyama had previously said he would come up with by the end of last month, the governor said, "I asked (Hirano) that he explain it to us concretely once it begins to be formulated."

    The meeting, which took place at Hirano's request, was held a day after Hatoyama said he has his own plan in mind for the Futemma relocation and that local consent is a prerequisite for proceeding with any negotiations with Washington on his plan.

    It also came a day after Nakaima rejected a plan that would relocate the base within the prefecture, which is being considered by the government as an alternative to an existing plan under a 2006 accord between Japan and the United States.

    Japan has recently sounded out the United States on the alternative proposal, which seeks to transfer a helicopter unit from the Futemma base temporarily to a helipad to be built at the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago and eventually to an area that would be reclaimed off the Katsuren Peninsula in eastern Okinawa or to Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture.

    Hatoyama is expected to consult with Hirano, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa over the matter once Okada returns Friday from a visit to Canada and the United States.

    Nakaima is scheduled to meet with Kitazawa also on Friday.

    Meanwhile, Social Democratic Party chief Mizuho Fukushima expressed displeasure Thursday over Hatoyama's remarks the previous day in which he said he had shared his own plan with "the ministers concerned."

    Fukushima, who serves as consumer affairs minister in Hatoyama's Cabinet and whose party forms a coalition government with his Democratic Party of Japan, said Hatoyama should share such a plan with her party and the other junior partner, the People's New Party.

    "I will give a talk to (the junior partners) at some timing," Hatoyama told reporters later in the day, adding he believes he can secure understanding from them "because this is a coalition government."

    The SDP and the PNP lodged their opposition with Hirano on Wednesday to relocating the Futemma base to an area off the Katsuren Peninsula through reclamation on the grounds that it would destroy the marine environment and perpetuate the base's presence on the island.

    Japan is seeking an alternative to the existing plan, under which the Futemma base will be transferred to a coastal area of Camp Schwab that will be reclaimed.

    While Hatoyama has vowed to resolve the dispute by the end of next month, the United States has stuck to the position that the current relocation plan is the best.

    (Mainichi Japan) April 2, 2010