Gates sought nod of coalition partners, locals on Futemma issue

Mar 31 08:46 AM US/Eastern

TOKYO, March 31 (AP) - (Kyodo) — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Japan to integrate its view and win local consent on the issue of where to relocate a U.S. Marine base in Okinawa during his talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Monday in Washington, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.

Japan's coalition government is exploring an alternative to the current plan agreed on with Washington in 2006 to move the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station within Okinawa and suggested its ideas to the U.S. side last week, but without winning consent from affected areas or coalition members.

After Monday's talks, a Japanese official only said Gates told Okada that the U.S. Marines in Okinawa Prefecture are key to the bilateral alliance and that Washington is hoping for an early resolution to the Futemma issue, but the U.S. defense secretary in fact went further than just expressing hope, according to the sources.

Gates' request apparently reflect U.S. concerns about negotiating the matter in vain with Tokyo unless it wins over the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's two coalition partners as well as people of Okinawa and other affected areas dominated by opposition to accepting the U.S. base transfer.

In a related development Wednesday, representatives of the two coalition partners -- the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party -- lodged opposition to one of the candidate relocation sites which sources said Okada conveyed to U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos last week.

In Monday's meeting, Gates sought assurances that Tokyo will not budge on the matter by asking Okada if views within the coalition government have been unified and local consent can be obtained, the sources said.

In response, Okada reiterated that Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is determined to resolve the issue by May, but only said the question of local consent "is a matter to be addressed from now on," they said.

In Washington on Tuesday, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell also said in a press conference that any plan on the transfer of the Futemma Air Station "needs to be viable politically, both at a local level and at a national level."

Morrell said the ideas Okada reportedly conveyed to Roos "fall short of a proposal."

Okada conveyed a proposal involving such candidate locations as the inland part of the Marines' Camp Schwab, an area off the coast of the U.S. Navy's White Beach facility in Uruma, both in Okinawa, and Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, to accommodate heliport functions of the Futemma base, according to the sources.

But "those ideas were not shared with Secretary Gates during his conversation with the foreign minister yesterday," Morrell said. "The foreign minister talked about how they had been provided to our ambassador in Japan. But they were not a focus of the conversation."

Okada separately told reporters in Gatineau, Quebec, where he attended a Group of Eight foreign ministers' meeting that he thinks negotiations with Washington would be a "very difficult process."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a press conference in Gatineau that Washington still thinks the existing U.S.-Japan accord on Futemma's relocation is "preferable" but is "ready to consider" possible alternative proposals from Japan.

Under the 2006 agreement, the Futemma facility is to be moved from a crowded residential area of Ginowan to Camp Schwab in Nago, also in Okinawa, by reclaiming land in the camp's coastal area.

Since taking office last September, Hatoyama's government began reviewing the plan in the hope of moving the Futemma out of Okinawa or even abroad and pledged to settle the issue by the end of May.

Hatoyama said in parliament Wednesday he has his "own plan in mind" for where to transfer the U.S. airstrip and that he is "confident" it will be "effective" in removing the danger, maintaining U.S. deterrence and easing the base-hosting burden on local people.

The premier told reporters afterward that the idea he had referred to in a Diet debate has already been shared with other Cabinet ministers concerned and the government is now in the process of negotiating with the United States.

Earlier Wednesday, the two DPJ coalition partners, whose heads are Cabinet members, asked Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano that Tokyo's prospective proposal won't include a plan to move the Futemma to an area to be reclaimed off the White Beach area.

They did so on the grounds such a plan would not ease base-hosting burdens on locals and would damage the marine environment.

There are strong local calls for moving the Futemma base off the southernmost prefecture, which hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in the country.

Impossible to Move Futenma Base without Local Consent: Hatoyama

March 31, 2010

Tokyo, March 31 (Jiji Press)--Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday stressed the importance of Japan's government gaining the consent of municipalities receiving functions of U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in Okinawa Prefecture.

At a policy debate in the Diet with Sadakazu Tanigaki, president of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, Hatoyama, also president of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, said that Japan will not be able to make a final decision unless it obtains approval from local governments involved.

Hatoyama said that "I have an idea in mind" for the Funtema replacement.

It would be as effective as or more effective than the current plan, which calls for transferring the Futenma airfield in Ginowan to the coastal area of the Marines' Camp Schwab in another Okinawan city of Nago, Hatoyama said. But he declined to comment further.

The prime minister also said his task is to present the government's final conclusion on where to move the base to the United States and host municipalities and gain their understanding by the end of May.

(2010/03/31-21:18)

Hatoyama has own relocation plan, aims to remove Futemma danger by 2014

Mar 31 07:56 AM US/Eastern

(AP) - TOKYO, March 31 (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said in parliament Wednesday he has his "own plan in mind" for where to transfer a U.S. base in Okinawa Prefecture and that he is "confident" that it is "effective" in removing the danger, maintaining U.S. deterrence and easing the base- hosting burden on local people.

The premier told reporters at his office afterward that the idea he had referred to in a Diet debate has already been shared with other Cabinet ministers concerned and the government is about to enter the process of negotiating with the United States.

But he said it is not time yet to make public the plan and that he intends to do so sometime before the end of May -- his self-imposed deadline for settling the U.S. base row.

The 63-year-old Japanese leader stressed that local consent is a prerequisite for proceeding with any negotiations with Washington on his relocation plan and that he is willing to visit a candidate site to meet with local residents at some point.

In the 45-minute debate with opposition Liberal Democratic Party leader Sadakazu Tanigaki, Hatoyama also pledged to eliminate by 2014 the risk to local residents posed by the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Ginowan in line with a time frame stipulated in a deal that Japan and the United States inked in 2006.

Under the existing deal, struck between a previous government led by the Liberal Democratic Party and the United States, the functions of the Futemma base, currently located in a crowded residential area, would be transferred to the coastal portion of the Marines' Camp Schwab in the city of Nago, also in the southernmost prefecture.

But it is not clear whether he meant to aim for the complete closure of the Futemma facility and the return of the land to the people of Okinawa by 2014.

In their second face-off during the current Diet session, Tanigaki urged Hatoyama to stand down or to seek a public mandate by dissolving the House of Representatives for an election if he fails to resolve the issue by the end of May.

Hatoyama responded, "I will stake my life" and that "I will definitely show successful results."

The leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan also counterattacked the LDP for failing to proceed with the relocation in line with the 2006 deal.

He argued that 14 years have already passed since Japan and the United States agreed in 1996 to shut down Futemma in the following five to seven years, but that the LDP-led governments failed to act quickly and as a result people in Ginowan remain exposed to the danger posed by Futemma.

In a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said Hatoyama will likely visit a relocation site to gain understanding from local people "in the final phase" of the negotiations between the two countries.

Hatoyama said he hopes that people outside Okinawa will thank the prefecture for having hosted a large chunk of U.S. forces in Japan for a long time and understand the need to share the burden.

Japan has conveyed to the United States a proposal involving such candidate locations as the inland part of Camp Schwab, an area off the coast of the U.S. Navy's White Beach facility in Uruma, also Okinawa, and Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, according to diplomatic sources.

But the government is also considering transferring part of the Marines' drilling to bases for Japan's Self-Defense Forces in the Kyushu region.

Just as in the previous Diet debate on Feb. 17, he also met with a barrage of attacks from Tanigaki over funding scandals that involve himself as well as other DPJ members including DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa.

Prosecutors Monday demanded two years in prison against one of the premier's former secretaries charged with falsifying a political funds report for Hatoyama.

The premier said he feels responsible over the case, but rejected resigning for it.

"I will work myself to the bone and will take the responsibility by living up to the expectations of people for a change of politics," he said.

Wednesday's debate was also a crucial one for Tanigaki, who has been under pressure to push up voter support for the LDP, which has shown little sign of a recovery since the party fell from power as a result of last year's historic election.

Tanigaki has lost some of his clout within the party since the previous debate, when some members felt he failed to deliver a fatal blow to Hatoyama.

Senior LDP members such as former Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano and former Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe have since begun denouncing the party leadership's failure to take advantage of the DPJ's repeated blunders and inability to improve the LDP's popularity ratings.

Hirano: Relocating Futenma may not finish by 2014

March 31, 2010

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano has indicated that the relocation of the US Futenma military base in Okinawa may not be completed until after 2014.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Hirano was asked whether the government will be able to complete the transfer of the Marine Corps Air Station by 2014 as agreed by previous Japanese and US governments in 2006.

He said the risk of accidents involving military vehicles and planes to people in Okinawa must be reduced steadily, regardless of the 2014 target.

Hirano also referred to remarks on the issue made by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in a debate with the leader of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party on Wednesday.

Hatoyama said that at a certain point, he wants to have a serious dialogue with the people of a candidate site to obtain their understanding.

Hirano said that in the final stage, the country's top leader must seek such people's understanding, rather than their approval.

2010/03/31 20:51(JST)
(JST: UTC+9hrs.)

Nakaima insists on relocation outside Okinawa

March 31, 2010

The governor of Okinawa Prefecture has renewed his demand that alternative sites for facilities of the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station be found outside the prefecture.

Hirokazu Nakaima reiterated the demand when he met a group of ruling and opposition members of the Lower House foreign affairs committee in Naha, Okinawa, on Wednesday.

The governor told the lawmakers that as the governing Democratic Party's leaders pledged to relocate Futenma's functions outside Okinawa in last year's general election campaign, public expectations in Okinawa have been increasing. He said the government should solve the relocation issue in accordance with the promises.

The lawmakers earlier visited 2 candidate sites for the relocation of the Futenma airfield -- the US Marines' Camp Schwab base in Nago City and Uruma City, where the US White Beach base is located.

Also on Wednesday, the leader of a junior coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party, has reaffirmed her opposition to US insistence on relocating the base to a coastal area off Camp Schwab in line with a 2006 agreement.

Mizuho Fukushima told reporters that the plan would cause environmental pollution and increase the burden on people in Okinawa. She said the SDP is also against the option of building alternative facilities in an area to be reclaimed off White Beach for a similar reason.

Fukushima said the best option would be relocation to Guam or the Northern Mariana islands.

2010/03/31 20:06(JST)
(JST: UTC+9hrs.)

Hatoyama has own plan for Futenma relocation

March 31, 2010
Click for Video

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama says he has a plan in mind for relocating the US Marine Futenma Air Station in Okinawa, but winning local acceptance will be his priority.

Hatoyama took part in a debate with the leader of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, Sadakazu Tanigaki, in the Diet on Wednesday.

Tanigaki criticized Hatoyama's government for not abiding by the relocation plan that Japan's previous LDP-led government and the US agreed on in 2006.

He described the plan as the best for maintaining a deterrence and easing the burden on the local population. Tanigaki demanded to know whether the air station is going to be moved elsewhere in Japan's southernmost prefecture, to another prefecture, or outside Japan.

Hatoyama countered that previous governments had not been able to begin work on the planned relocation site.

He said his government is looking for an alternative site because it judged that the existing plan was not feasible.

Hatoyama said his own plan, which he cannot disclose at this point, is at least as good as, and probably better than, the existing plan.

He also stressed that risks imposed on people living near Futenma Air Station should be removed by 2014, and made clear he would visit Okinawa at an appropriate time to win local support for his efforts.

Tanigaki said if the government fails to resolve the relocation issue by the end of May as promised, it risks irreparable damage to Japan-US trust in addition to having betrayed the public's trust in politics.

He demanded that Hatoyama resign, or call a snap election, if he fails to fulfill his promise.

Hatoyama responded that nothing would come out of upcoming negotiations with the US if he is worried about failure. He said he would stake his life on resolving this issue, and that he would definitely produce results.

2010/03/31 19:37(JST)
(JST: UTC+9hrs.)

Pentagon seeks nod of coalition partners, locals on Futemma issue

Mar 31 04:19 AM US/Eastern

WASHINGTON, March 31 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said Tuesday it is necessary to win approval of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's coalition partners as well as local support for a plan to relocate a U.S. Marine base in Okinawa.

The U.S. defense department spokesman told a press conference that any plan on the transfer of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station "needs to be viable politically, both at a local level and at a national level."

The DPJ-led tripartite coalition government is exploring an alternative to the current plan agreed on between Japan and the United States in 2006 to move the Futemma facility in a crowded residential area of Ginowan to the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, also in Okinawa, by reclaiming land in the camp's coastal area.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has pledged to settle the issue by the end of May and Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada explained to U.S. Secretary of State Robert Gates in Washington on Monday how Tokyo is reviewing the Futemma relocation issue.

Okada conveyed to U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos last week a proposal involving candidate locations to accommodate heliport functions of the Futemma base such as the inland part of Camp Schwab, an area off the coast of the U.S. Navy's White Beach facility in Uruma, also in Okinawa, and Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, according to diplomatic sources.

Morrell said at the news conference, however, that the ideas Okada conveyed to Roos "fall short of a proposal."

"Those ideas were not shared with Secretary Gates during his conversation with the foreign minister yesterday," he said. "The foreign minister talked about how they had been provided to our ambassador in Japan. But they were not a focus of the conversation."

In Tokyo, representatives of the two DPJ coalition partners -- the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party -- asked Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano on Wednesday not to include in a prospective proposal a plan to move the Futemma airstrip to an area to be reclaimed off the White Beach area.

The two parties lodged opposition on the grounds that the plan would not ease base-hosting burdens on locals and would damage the marine environment.

The Japanese government has not obtained local consent for any of the ideas the sources say were presented to Roos by Okada. There are strong local calls for moving the Futemma base off the southernmost prefecture, which hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in the country.

Tough negotiations expected with US over Futenma

March 31, 2010
Click for Video

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano says he expects tough negotiations with the United States over the relocation of the US Futenma Air Station in Okinawa.

Hirano made the remark on Wednesday at a meeting with Diet affairs chiefs of the Democratic Party's junior governing partners, the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party.

At the meeting, the governing partners opposed on environmental grounds the government's plan to construct a runway on reclaimed land off the US White Beach base in Okinawa at Uruma. They said any plan allowing a permanent US base in the island prefecture is the worst possible.

But Hirano said the government would be giving that plan further study in order to remove the dangers imposed by Futenma air station as soon as possible.

Hirano said the United States appears to be sticking to its plan to transfer the Futenma base to a coastal area of US Camp Schwab in Nago also in Okinawa Prefecture.

Japan's previous government led by the Liberal Democratic Party agreed to this plan in 2006.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has told reporters in Canada that he thinks negotiations with the US are still possible. But he said it is difficult to predict results and he expects the negotiations to be tough. He added negotiations with local governments in Japan are also expected to be tough.

2010/03/31 16:27(JST)
(JST: UTC+9hrs.)

U.S. Told Okinawa Base Plan Impossible

MARCH 31, 2010
By YUKA HAYASHI

TOKYO — Japan told the U.S. that relocating a controversial U.S. military facility in Okinawa was impossible, setting a stage for more thorny discussions that could further erode the popularity of the six-month old government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

In a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton late Monday, Japanese foreign minister Katsuya Okada asked Washington to consider alternative proposals for relocating the Futenma air station, a Marine Corps facility located in a crowded urban area on the southern Japanese island.

Mr. Hatoyama's center-left government took power last September with a promise to the Okinawan voters to scrap a 2006 bilateral accord between the U.S. and Japan that calls for closing Futenma and moving its facilities to a new location in a rural section of northern Okinawa. But the prime minister, suffering sharp declines in popular support, has been criticized sharply in Japan for his handling of the issue, failing to announce a workable alternative and missing his own deadline for settling the controversy. U.S. officials have repeatedly said the existing plan is the only option, giving Mr. Hatoyama a big challenge.

"I said [to Mrs. Clinton] we fully recognized the U.S. position that the existing plan was the best," Mr. Okada told reporters after meeting her on the sidelines of a Group of Eight foreign ministers' meeting near Ottawa. "But given the current situation, I explained to her, there are too many difficulties surrounding that plan."

Phillip J. Crowley, assistant secretary of state, said the U.S. hasn't changed its position, but that it was willing to listen to Japan's current thinking. "We are listening attentively to what Japan is telling us, and we'll continue the conversations in the weeks ahead," Mr. Crowley said at a news conference Monday.

Okinawan lawmakers and residents have been stepping up their opposition to the construction of new facilities, saying the island already shoulders a hefty burden of hosting numerous U.S. military facilities. Some 40,000 U.S. troops are stationed on the island. Others say Mr. Hatoyama is hurting Japan's critically important bilateral ties with Washington by trying to overturn the exiting agreement.

Japan's media have suggested the possibility of a May Crisis for the Hatoyama government—that a failure to settle the Okinawa base issue could pressure Mr. Hatoyama to step down. Hurt by political funds scandals involving himself and party stalwart Ichiro Ozawa, the support rating for the government has fallen to 36%, according to a poll by the Nikkei business daily Monday, nearly half what is was at his inauguration in September.

Mr. Okada reassured Mrs. Clinton that Tokyo intends to settle the issue by end of May, a self-imposed deadline Mr. Hatoyama set after missing his first deadline in December. Mr. Hatoyama has said the government would unveil its alternative proposal by the end of March, before kicking off formal negotiations with local residents and the U.S. But he suggested Tuesday any announcement may be delayed.

"What's important is we are working hard every single day so we can present to everyone a solid plan by the end of May," Mr. Hatoyama told reporters.

Mr. Hatoyama and Mr. Okada didn't discuss details of Tokyo's new proposals for relocating Futenma, but Japan's major newspapers have reported recently that such plans include temporarily moving some of the functions of Futenma to multiple locations in and outside of Okinawa while building a permanent base offshore from the existing U.S. naval facility at White Beach in Okinawa.

Hatoyama has Futemma relocation plan in mind

Mar 31 02:59 AM US/Eastern

TOKYO, March 31 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Wednesday he has his own plan in mind about where to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture.

"I have my own plan in my mind," he said in the Diet debate with opposition Liberal Democratic Party leader Sadakazu Tanigaki. "Ministers concerned are aware it exists and are working with this in mind."

While declining to elaborate, he said the government will not push forward with the plan before obtaining the consent of local residents.

The premier also called on the public to share burdens that the people of Okinawa have shouldered in hosting the bulk of U.S. bases in Japan.

Japan is seeking an alternative to a current plan to move the Futemma facility in the crowded city of Ginowan to a coastal area of the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, also in Okinawa. The current plan was finalized between the two countries in 2006, with an eye to its completion by 2014.

In the debate, Hatoyama said the elimination of risks that the facility imposes on the local populace should be completed by 2014.

"I will stake my life on addressing the (relocation) issue," the premier said. "And I will definitely show successful results."

DPJ partners lodge opposition to Futemma reclamation option

Mar 31 12:52 AM US/Eastern

TOKYO, March 31 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Representatives of the two junior partners in the Democratic Party of Japan-led coalition asked the government on Wednesday not to include in a prospective proposal a plan to move a U.S. Marine base in Okinawa to an area to be reclaimed off the main island.

The delegates, including Tomoko Abe, the policy chief of the Social Democratic Party, and People's New Party Diet affairs chief Mikio Shimoji, made the request to Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano during a meeting at the prime minister's office.

Japan is seeking an alternative to a current plan to move the Futemma Air Station in the crowded city of Ginowan to a coastal area of the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, also in Okinawa Prefecture, with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama pledging to settle the matter by the end of May.

"We told him that both parties are opposed to this plan," Shimoji told reporters, saying that his party opposes the reclamation option on the grounds that it would perpetuate the base's presence.

The SDP's Kantoku Teruya, who represents a constituency in Okinawa, told Hirano that the plan would destroy the marine environment at the proposed site, and showed him a picture of coral reefs there, according to participants.

Hirano told them that while negotiations with the United States are "very difficult," the government will make a decision in recognition of the need to remove the dangers posed by the Futemma base as soon as possible, according to Shimoji.

Abe and Shimoji agreed Tuesday to oppose the alternative plan, which would move the Futemma base to an area off the U.S. military's White Beach Area in Uruma, located on the Katsuren Peninsula in eastern Okinawa, on the grounds that it would not lighten the burdens on the locals.

Japan has sounded out the United States on a two-pronged plan to move a helicopter unit from the Futemma base to a land part of Camp Schwab on a provisional basis and eventually to an area that would be reclaimed off the peninsula or to Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, north of Okinawa.

Hatoyama suggested Tuesday that his government is unlikely to meet a self-imposed end-of-March deadline to proffer a single proposal that would serve as a basis for talks with the United States, calling the possible delay "no big deal."

On the possible delay, Hirano told a news conference Wednesday that Hatoyama has already decided on a policy direction. But because Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada is on a visit to Canada and the United States, Hirano said, Hatoyama probably intends to finalize a government proposal upon Okada's return on Friday.

There are strong local calls for moving the Futemma base off the southernmost prefecture, which hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in the country. But the United States has urged Japan to stick to the original relocation plan, calling it the best option.

The current plan was finalized between the two countries in 2006 under an agreement on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. It is linked to the transfer of about 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam. Both plans are to be completed by 2014.

Original Futenma Relocation Plan Preferable: Clinton

March 31, 2010

Gatineau, Canada, March 31 (Jiji Press) -- The United States believes that the current relocation plan for the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in Okinawa, southern Japan, is preferable, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday.

"We still hold the opinion that the original plan is preferable," Clinton said at a joint press conference held after a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Eight major countries in Canada that ended earlier in the day.

Japan and the United States agreed in 2006 to move the Futenma base's functions to a coastal area of the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, another Okinawa city.

The U.S. government is considering a most effective way for the defense of Japan, a longtime ally of the United States, she said.

The remarks were interpreted as the indication of the U.S. stance that it is hard, due to operational reasons, to accept plans mulled by Japan to transfer the Futenma functions outside Okinawa.

(2010/03/31-12:36)

Former PM Nakasone admits he was briefed on secret Japan-U.S. pact

March 31, 2010

Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone revealed on Tuesday that he had received an explanation about a secret pact made between Japan and the United States on the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japan during his premiership.

The confession came during a Tuesday news program on public broadcaster NHK, during which Nakasone said: "I posed a question, and the Foreign Ministry explained (about the secret pact) to me."

According to Nakasone, a senior Foreign Ministry official at that time told him, "It's a customary practice without documents and is based on a mutual confidence (between Japan and the United States)."

The diplomatic papers released by a ministry panel on March 9 have revealed that successive prime ministers who served between 1968 and 1989 had been briefed on secret Japan-U.S. pacts, with Nakasone receiving an explanation on Jan. 14, 1983.

"(Secret pacts) are politically wise from a broader perspective. If Japan were to say no to (the pacts), then security arrangement wouldn't be viable," Nakasone said during the news program, while acknowledging Japan's three non-nuclear principles of not producing, possessing or allowing the introduction of nuclear weapons into the country.

Also on Tuesday, former Japanese Communist Party (JCP) leader Tetsuzo Fuwa announced the discovery of two official U.S. documents that underscore the existence of a secret pact under which port calls and passage by U.S. vessels carrying nuclear weapons would not be subject to prior consultations.

The documents say the U.S. explained the exemption to Japan on the first day of negotiations over the revision of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty in October 1958, Fuwa said during a press conference at the Diet on Tuesday.

"The conclusion by the Foreign Ministry's panel (that it was only a 'secret pact in a broader sense') was wrong," Fuwa said.

The two documents surfaced while the JCP was scrutinizing documents that the party had obtained previously. Fuwa had earlier pointed out the existence of minutes at the time of the 1960 revision of the bilateral security arrangement, during Diet deliberations in 2000. The ministry panel acknowledged their existence but denied that they constituted secret pacts.

According to a U.S. document on the first round of negotiations on Oct. 4, 1958, then U.S. Ambassador to Japan Douglas MacArthur II explained to then Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi and Foreign Minister Aiichiro Fujiyama that port calls and passage of U.S. vessels carrying nuclear weapons would not be subject to prior consultations with the Japanese government. The document also says that there was "no substantial reply" from Kishi and others.

Another document on the negotiations of June 20, 1959, says that a report was filed with the then U.S. Secretary of State, stating Foreign Minister Fujiyama acknowledged to MacArthur that Japan would recognize the security treaty, mutual correspondence and minutes between the two countries as a whole.

Click here for the original Japanese story

(Mainichi Japan) March 31, 2010

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Okada, Clinton discuss Futenma

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

2010/03/31

OTTAWA -- Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday that the plan to relocate the Futenma airfield as agreed in 2006 "would be difficult to realize."

But he conveyed Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's determination to settle the issue by the end of May.

In the meeting near Ottawa on the sidelines of the Group of Eight foreign ministers gathering, Okada asked for U.S. cooperation in selecting a new site for the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture.

Citing "various difficulties" in going forward with the 2006 deal to move the air station from Ginowan to Henoko in Nago, also in the prefecture, Okada asked Washington to consider plans being studied by Japan.

Okada had so far not ruled out the Henoko plan, which Washington has asked Tokyo to honor.

Earlier in the day, Okada met U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in Washington to explain current Japanese discussions on the issue.

Asahi :: Wednesday, March 31, 2010

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Clinton: Existing Futenma plan is best option

March 31, 2010
Click for Video

The US Secretary of State has indicated that the United States is ready to consider alternative proposals that the Japanese government may make to relocate the US Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa.

Hillary Clinton made the remark during a joint news conference after the G8 foreign ministers' meeting in Gatineau, Canada, on Tuesday.

Clinton said the US still holds the opinion that the original relocation plan is preferable. The plan agreed in 2006 included shifting the base to the coastal area of the US Camp Schwab in Nago, also in Okinawa.

Clinton said the US position also remains the same as to which relocation plan would be most effective in terms of implementation.

She added that the US will listen to the Japanese government's views and continue the discussions if Japan makes new proposals.

2010/03/31 07:40(JST)
(JST: UTC+9hrs.)

Clinton says 2006 deal on Futemma 'preferable,' but ready to listen

Mar 30 06:34 PM US/Eastern

(AP) - GATINEAU, Canada, March 30 (Kyodo) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that Washington still thinks the existing U.S.-Japan accord on the relocation of a U.S. base in Okinawa is "preferable" but is "ready to consider" possible alternative proposals from Japan.

"We are committed to the defense of Japan...and we hold a view as to what is the most effective way to pursue and implement that. But of course we are going to continue to listen to and consult with the Japanese government," Clinton told a press conference held after a Group of Eight foreign ministers' meeting.

The remarks came a day after Clinton met with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on the sidelines of the G-8 meeting in Gatineau, Quebec.

In that meeting, Okada reiterated Japan's determination to reach a settlement on the issue of relocating the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station by the end of May while agreeing with Clinton to continue to hold discussions on the matter.

Okada told reporters separately that engaging in negotiations with the United States, as well as with the parties concerned inside his country, over alternative proposals may be possible, but that an "extremely tough road" lies ahead.

The United States has maintained that the bilateral accord agreed on in 2006 to move the Futemma facility, located in a crowded residential area of Ginowan, to the coastal area of the U.S. Marines' Camp Schwab, also in Okinawa, is the "best" option.

But Japan, following the historic change of government in September last year, is mulling several locations in and outside Okinawa as alternatives.

Okada said Tuesday he was not sure whether the word "preferable" used by Clinton indicates any change in the U.S. stance, only saying that it is possible to make interpretations.

Clinton said in January after meeting with Okada in Hawaii that the implementation of the existing plan is "the best way forward" for solving the base issue.

US Defense Department comments on Futenma transfer

March 31, 2010
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A spokesperson for the US Defense Department says the US government is reluctant to relocate US Marines outside Okinawa. But he adds that the transfer plan must be approved by local governments in Okinawa.

Defense Department spokesperson Geoffrey Morrell made the remarks at a news conference on Tuesday.

Morrell said the US Marines in Okinawa are undoubtedly important, and the US Secretary of Defense believes they should remain in Okinawa in a politically and operationally stable format to maintain the security of Japan and the Asian region.

He also said the Japanese government will make a final decision, but he thinks it must be politically achievable at the local and national level.

2010/03/31 07:31(JST)
(JST: UTC+9hrs.)

Futenma poses test of Hatoyama's leadership

March 31, 2010
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Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's leadership will be tested as Japan enters the final stage of talks with the United States on the relocation of a US base in Okinawa.

Hatoyama strongly intends to move the US Futenma Marine Corps Air Station outside Okinawa, and the government is considering a draft plan to divide its functions among several sites in Okinawa and outside the prefecture.

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has begun negotiations with the United States on relocating the Futenma air station by the end of May.

On Monday, Okada met US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

But differences on the relocation plan have emerged between Hatoyama and his ministers.

Hatoyama had said the Cabinet would complete a draft plan by the end of this month and conclude the issue by the end of May.

Okada said he is uncertain about the end of March deadline. He said it is necessary for the governments of Okinawa and the United States to discuss different drafts to reach a conclusion.

Some lawmakers are criticizing the Prime Minister, saying they cannot understand where his true intention lies. They are asking Hatoyama and his Cabinet members to closely communicate with each other to deal with the relocation issue.

Hatoyama is expected to have difficult negotiations with the US administration and local governments.

2010/03/31 06:08(JST)
(JST: UTC+9hrs.)

Defense Press Conference

U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) News Transcript

On the Web: http://www.defense.gov/Transcripts/Transcript.aspx?TranscriptID=4595 Media contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132 Public contact: http://www.defense.gov/landing/comment.aspx or +1 (703) 428-0711 +1

Presenter: Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell March 30, 2010

DOD News Briefing with Geoff Morrell from the Pentagon

MR. MORRELL: Hi, guys, sorry to keep you waiting. Good to see you all. Let me just give you a quick rundown of the secretary's travel schedule. Then I'll take your questions.

So with that out of the way, Ann, what have you got today?

Okay?

Yes. My Japanese friends have been very patient today. Yes. Yoso. What's going on, my friend?

Q About the secretary's meeting with Japanese foreign minister--

MR. MORRELL: You want to ask about Bill Gertz’ article too, don't you. (Laughter.) All right, no, I thought not. Okay.

Q According to the readout, secretary said yesterday that the Marines in Okinawa are critical to the alliance and the U.S. expects the Japanese government to help ensure their presence remains operationally and politically sustainable. By this comment, does he mean the Marine Expeditionary Forces in Okinawa should remain in Okinawa? And also, when he talks about political sustainability, does he mean local support is inevitable for any alternative plans for Futenma replacement facility?

MR. MORRELL: Let me take the first part first. He means what we said he means, which is, yes, that the Marines on Okinawa are critically important to our ability to carry out our treaty commitments with Japan -- i.e., that we can provide for the defense of Japan as well as regional peace and security.

They are an essential component to that, their presence on Okinawa. And that is what he conveyed to the Japanese foreign minister during their meeting yesterday. So I don't think there is any ambiguity in that, but if there was, that's -- I want to make that clear.

As for the political sustainability question, I think it -- my sense is that that is an issue that ultimately is for the Japanese government to determine, but that it needs -- it needs to be viable politically, both at a local level and at a national level.

But the political issues are for -- are really for the Japanese government to work out. But obviously, whatever the path forward is, the secretary's belief is that it needs to be politically and operationally sustainable for the Marines to remain in Okinawa so that they can meet the treaty commitments that we have to the government of Japan, so that we can provide, by their presence, for the security of Japan as well as for regional peace and security.

Q Also, did he clarify yesterday that United States government still thinks FRF is the best plan?

MR. MORRELL: I mean, I think that the talking point -- the readout that we provided to you yesterday I think characterizes how we wish to talk about this meeting. I mean, and I'll -- just to make it clear to you, they discussed first and foremost the importance of the alliance to the defense of Japan and regional security in this 50th- anniversary year of the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security.

Secretary Gates reaffirmed the United States' commitments under the treaty, including the defense of Japan backed by our nuclear umbrella.

He said the Marines in Okinawa are critical to the alliance, and the U.S. expects the government of Japan to help ensure their presence remains operationally and politically sustainable.

The secretary and the foreign minister agreed on the importance of completing the review of the Futenma replacement facility alternatives quickly. The meeting also touched on cooperation in Afghanistan, regional security issues, and the strategic role of host nation support in the alliance.

And then afterwards, as you know, the foreign minister went on to meet with the deputy undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Jim Miller. And I think he then went on and had some -- had a meeting, I believe with the secretary of State, last night.

But I think that's how we wish to characterize the extent of the conversation at this point.

Did any of our Japanese friends have a follow -- yes, go ahead.

Q Is Pentagon going to be flexible enough to study alternatives seriously and accept alternatives if they meet minimum requirements?

MR. MORRELL: Let me -- I think at this point what I would say is -- we've talked about alternatives. What I would say is that the Japanese government has shared with our government, in a conversation with our ambassador in Tokyo, their current thinking or their ideas about Futenma replacement -- the Futenma replacement facility.

That was not -- those ideas -- and I underscore that because I think they fall short of a proposal -- those ideas were not shared with Secretary Gates during his conversation with the foreign minister yesterday. They were referenced.

The foreign minister talked about how they had been provided to our ambassador in Japan. But they were not a focus of the conversation.

As for whether or not we are open to alternatives, I think we've said time and time in the past that we respect Japan's request to take some additional time, to explore alternatives to the Futenma replacement facility, and that we have made our clear commitment -- made clear our commitment to working constructively, with the government of Japan, to expeditiously realign our force posture, to ensure long-term sustainability and reduce the impact of our bases on host communities in Japan.

And part of this effort includes ensuring an enduring solution to the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps air station in Futenma. And we will continue to work together to try to find the best long-term solution, to the realignment that is needed for the ultimate, long-term sustainment of our treaty responsibilities.

Yeah.

http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4595

Marine Presence on Okinawa Essential to Security, Morrell Says

By Viola Gienger

March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Japan’s top diplomat that the presence of U.S. Marines on Okinawa is “essential” to providing security for the country and the region and that any solution must be “sustainable,” a Pentagon spokesman said.

Japan’s new government is negotiating with the U.S. over a long-planned relocation of the Futenma Marine Air Station on Okinawa after local leaders began pressing for it to be moved off the island.

“It needs to be politically and operationally sustainable for the Marines to remain in Okinawa so that they can meet the treaty commitments that we have to the government of Japan,” Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters at the Pentagon today. The Marines’ presence is “essential,” he said, “so that we can provide, by their presence, for the security of Japan as well as for regional peace and security.”

Last Updated: March 30, 2010 14:05 EDT

Japanese PM plagued by US base conflict, corruption scandal

By Japan Bureau Chief Michiyo Ishida
Posted: 31 March 2010 0026 hrs

TOKYO : Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama appears to be a besieged man lately.

He is facing pressure to make a decision on the crucial relocation of the US base in Okinawa, the Cabinet is clashing over postal reform, and a political funds scandal is hurting his approval ratings.

But analysts said it's not the end of the road for PM Hatoyama and his government.

The future of the Futenma Air Base in Okinawa is never far from the news these days.

Everyone is watching for the Japanese PM's decision on where to relocate the base.

Mr Hatoyama had wanted the base relocated outside of Okinawa, which is not realistic for Washington.

According to media reports, he is now hoping to move out a portion of the military function to Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture.

But strong protests were heard over the weekend.

"By mistake, they introduced this problem in Japanese political sphere. But every participant in the discussion understands the importance of US-Japan relations. Anyway, they have to settle this problem until the end of May. So this is a very critical moment," said Jun Iio, VP and Professor of Government, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.

Another problem plaguing the PM is the political funds scandal.

Prosecutors have demanded that Keiji Katsuba, Mr Hatoyama's former chief accountant, be sentenced to 2 years in prison for mishandling of political funds. That includes the mishandling of Mr Hatoyama's allowance given from his mother which is 15 million yen a month. The verdict is expected to be handed down in late April.

"Hatoyama's secretary problem is very stupid. We should criticize him. But the trouble has already been settled.

"Prosecutors found out that the prime minister himself is innocent and his political secretary himself (did) the wrong things. So probably this problem will end in a month or so. As a matter of fact, Hatoyama's cabinet has successfully set up a new year's budget, and successfully passed the Diet. So basically Hatoyama's Cabinet is going well," said Iio.

Professor Iio believes Mr Hatoyama has a chance to regain public support after resolving the US base relocation issue, and by introducing a new financial plan and pension system as promised.

Analysts also said it is too soon to rate the current government which took power in August. They added it should be given at least one year to see through its policies. - CNA /ls

Nakasone admits to secret pact on nuke passage

Mar 30 10:19 AM US/Eastern

TOKYO, March 30 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone said he was briefed by the Foreign Ministry while he was in office in the 1980s that Tokyo had given approval for the passage of nuclear-armed U.S. vessels through Japanese waters, public broadcaster NHK reported Tuesday.

He told the NHK program he was briefed by the ministry that "while no documents (on the tacit permission) exist, U.S. nuclear arms have been brought into Japan in practice and mutual trust, and Tokyo has tacitly approved it as common sense."

"It was politically wise," he said. "We could not maintain security if we said 'No' to it."

Nakasone, who was prime minister between 1982 and 1987, also said it would be diplomatically disadvantageous if confidential information is leaked and politicians must remain vigilant about safeguarding secret information.