Sat Dec 26, 11:16 pm ETTOKYO (AFP) – Relocating a contentious US airbase in its entirety from southern Japan to Guam is "unreasonable" Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told a radio programme.
Hatoyama said it would not be practical to shift the whole base, which has been the subject of friction between Tokyo and Washington, from Okinawa to the US-controlled Pacific Ocean territory.
"Thinking realistically, it would be unreasonable to relocate all its functions to Guam from the standpoint of deterrence," Hatoyama told a Nippon Radio programme Saturday.
The US Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station currently sits in a crowded urban area of tropical Okinawa island. Tokyo and Washington agreed in 2006 to move it out to a coastal region, away from the population, many of whom resent its presence.
The agreement was part of a broader realignment of US forces in Japan and includes the redeployment of around 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to the US territory of Guam.
Soon after coming to power, Hatoyama's centre-left government announced a review of the agreement, provoking irritation in Washington.
However, Hatoyama appeared to soft pedal the review in his weekend comments to the broadcaster.
"Moving more than (the 8,000 Marines) is very difficult," Hatoyama told the station.
Since its defeat in World War II, officially pacifist Japan has relied on a massive US military presence to guarantee its security, initially as an occupier and later as an ally.
But the dispute over Futenma has raised fears among some Japanese that this alliance might cool, at a time when a rising China is making its presence felt across Asia.
Hatoyama's comments met with immediate ire from the Socialists in his ruling coalition, who favour shifting the base out of the country, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported, citing unnamed senior officials in the party.
"I wonder if he (Hatoyama) intends to force the Socialists out of the coalition government," the Socialist official reportedly said.
Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) needs votes from Socialists and another junior coalition partner for a majority in the upper house of parliament.
Hatoyama's government took power in Japan in August after half a century of almost continuous conservative rule, pledging to review past agreements on the US military presence and to deal with Washington on a more "equal" basis.
The United States, which defeated Japan in World War II and then occupied the country, now has 47,000 troops stationed there, more than half of them on Okinawa, the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the war.
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