THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
2010/04/30
Despite getting the cold shoulder, one of the Northern Mariana islands in the western Pacific is signaling it would welcome the chance to remove a thorn in the side of the Japan-U.S. relationship by hosting a U.S. air base in place of Okinawa Prefecture.
Tokyo and Washington, however, have dismissed the idea of transferring the functions of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Tinian as unrealistic.
The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, is counting on huge economic benefits that would accrue from the move.
Its Senate in mid-April adopted a resolution to promote Tinian as the "best location" for the Futenma airfield, now in Ginowan. A resolution from the commonwealth's House of Representatives is to follow soon.
Local authorities have been encouraged by a February visit of lawmakers from Japan's junior coalition parties to Saipan, which is about 5 kilometers north of Tinian, in search of a relocation site.
But a senior U.S. State Department official says there are too many problems in considering Tinian as a relocation site, citing negative effects on the reorganization plan for U.S. forces and the island's poor infrastructure.
Among the premises of the planned realignment of U.S. forces is a continued deployment of Marines to Okinawa Prefecture. Thus, Tinian's proposal would require too drastic a review.
Tokyo also has declined to consider Guam or Tinian, deciding there was no prospect that Washington would accept it.
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