
Apr 15 01:18 PM US/Eastern
TOKYO, April 16 (AP) - (Kyodo) — The United States has sounded out Japan on the possibility of building a proposed airfield to replace the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa farther offshore from the coast of the southernmost prefecture than the location currently planned, sources close to bilateral ties said Thursday.
The United States is also considering returning to Japan the bombing ranges on the islands of Kumejima and Torishima, and part of a water area east of Okinawa, both used by the U.S. military, if Tokyo agrees to implement the current Futemma relocation plan or the modification sounded out, the sources said.
Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima had previously requested that the central government consider moving the proposed airfield farther offshore, citing noise and other environmental concerns. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates indicated during his visit to Tokyo last October that he would accept such a modification.
The current plan under a 2006 bilateral accord would involve moving the Futemma base in the crowded city of Ginowan to a new airfield to be built in a coastal area of the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa.
The sounding out by the United States comes at a time when the two countries remain at an impasse over where the base should be relocated, with Tokyo exploring alternatives to the current plan.
But the government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama intends to negotiate with the U.S. government over a proposal to make Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture the relocation site for the helicopter unit now stationed at Futemma.
The Okinawa governor has also stopped calling for merely modifying the current plan given the mounting voices within Okinawa for moving the Futemma base outside of the southernmost prefecture.
It therefore appears difficult for the two countries to find common ground now that the United States has effectively rejected the Tokunoshima option as well as another option to relocate the Futemma base to an area off eastern Okinawa by building an artificial island in the sea.
Hatoyama has still vowed to resolve the matter by the end of next month.
During a meeting with Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Friday last week, U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos said the current plan still forms the basis but asked the Japanese government to consider whether it would be able to accept the current plan if it is modified, the sources said.
Okada avoided giving a clear answer at that time, according to the sources.
In the meeting, Roos did not cite a concrete figure for how far offshore the airfield could be moved, but according to the Defense Ministry, no new environmental assessment will be necessary as long as the modification involves moving the base offshore slightly more than 50 meters or less.
The Okinawa government has long called for the return of the bombing ranges and the partial return of the water area to Japan. But the United States has yet to broach Japan on their possible return because it intends to propose the move only if Japan agrees to proceed with the current plan or the modified version, the sources said.
Under an agreement reached between Japan and the United States in the heliport functions of the Futemma base will be transferred to an airfield to be built on an area involving part of Camp Schwab and an artificial land to be reclaimed in the sea nearby. The completion of the project is targeted for 2014.
The relocation is part of a broader agreement between the two countries to realign U.S. forces in Japan and is linked to a plan to transfer about 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam by the same deadline.