May 27, 2010
Tokyo, May 27 (Jiji Press) -- Japan's Social Democratic Party stepped up its efforts on Thursday to block a government plan to relocate a key U.S. military base within Okinawa Prefecture, sticking to its demand the facility be moved off the prefecture or out of Japan altogether.
Japan and the United States are expected to issue a joint statement on Friday on their accord on the relocation of the Marine Corps' Futenma air station from Ginowan, Okinawa, to the Henoko district of another Okinawa city of Nago, which hosts the Marines' Camp Schwab.
At executive meetings, the SDP, a junior partner of the ruling coalition, decided that the party will seek to remove the name of Henoko from the planned Japan-U.S. statement.
If the request is not met, SDP leader Mizuho Fukushima, as a cabinet member, will refuse to sign any government policy paper related to the Futenma base relocation, according to an agreement among the SDP executives.
Following the talks, SDP Secretary-General Yasumasa Shigeno phoned Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano and requested that the government give up specifying Henoko as the relocation site for the Futenma base in any joint statement with the United States.
(2010/05/27-13:38)
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