Apr 26 09:40 PM US/Eastern
WASHINGTON, April 26 (AP) - (Kyodo) — The U.S. government still prefers the existing plan for relocating a U.S. Marine Corps base within Okinawa Prefecture, but it is willing to continue talks with the Japanese government, a State Department official said Monday.
"We haven't changes our view on the existing plan. But we have been willing to exchange ideas with the Japanese government," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.
Crowley said that Washington looks forward to the next bilateral dialogue, which is to be held when Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, visits Japan on Tuesday and Wednesday.
On a mass rally held Sunday in Okinawa calling for the removal of the Futemma air base from the nation's southernmost prefecture, Crowley said, "We understand that this is a difficult and emotional issue for the people of Japan and the people of Okinawa."
"It's one of the reasons we have put so much effort into this and why we continue the discussions with Japan on how to best carry this out," he added.
Campbell, the top U.S. diplomat overseeing negotiations with Japan on relocation of the base, said Monday in Hong Kong that Tokyo's recent proposals are "encouraging" although there is still a long way to go in solving the issue.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Monday did not deny weekend reports that Tokyo has proposed to Washington slightly modifying the existing plan agreed in 2006.
According to the media reports, Tokyo has indicated it will broadly accept the 2006 deal to transfer the Futemma base from the center of a residential area in Ginowan to a less crowded part of Okinawa Prefecture with some changes.
Meanwhile, the United States and Japan held working level talks of foreign and defense ministries in Washington to discuss ways to deepen their alliance.
The two sides are expected to have exchanged views over the modification of the relocation plan floated within the Japanese government.
From Japan, Koji Tomita, deputy director general of the Foreign Ministry's North American Affairs Bureau, and Tetsuro Kuroe, deputy director general of the Defense Ministry's Defense Policy Bureau, joined the meeting.
The U.S. delegation to the talks was led by Joseph Donovan, principal deputy assistant secretary of state, and Michael Schiffer, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asia and Pacific security affairs.
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