Dec 22 10:11 AM US/Eastern(AP) - TOKYO, Dec. 23 (Kyodo) — Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Tuesday that he has no plans to reconsider the government's decision to put off reaching a conclusion until next year on the issue of where to relocate a U.S. Marine Corps base in Okinawa Prefecture despite fresh pressure from Washington.
Okada's remarks came in response to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's move the previous day to call in the Japanese ambassador for an extraordinary meeting to say that the United States wants Japan to swiftly implement the relocation of the Futemma base as agreed upon bilaterally in 2006.
As the talks between the two allies remain deadlocked on the matter, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said earlier Tuesday that while Japan has set next May as the deadline for reaching a conclusion, the government should decide on it as quickly as possible.
At a news conference, Okada called Clinton's move "within a predictable range" and suggested that the government will go ahead with plans to have the matter discussed among the three parties comprising Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's government.
But he also stressed the need to move swiftly on the matter, saying that dealing with Washington requires extra care and that Japan needs to deal with it squarely.
Okada then added, "Because the prime minister has expressed his resolve (for a new relocation site) and another party says there is a better plan, we are required to pursue that possibility thoroughly."
As to the deadline, Kitazawa told a news conference Tuesday that Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan and its two junior coalition partners share a basic understanding that next May is the time for the government to reach a conclusion on the issue.
Indicating that the next summit between Hatoyama and U.S. President Barack Obama would be held by next June, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said the same day that a decision would be made around that time.
"The month of May that Minister Kitazawa spoke of may be one important time to make a decision," Hirano said at a news conference.
Hirano earlier proposed reaching a conclusion on the issue by next May during a meeting of the heads of the three parties and Cabinet ministers concerned, according to ruling coalition lawmakers.
But at that time the Social Democratic Party, which advocates moving the base outside of the southernmost prefecture or the country, opposed setting such a deadline.
Yet on Tuesday, Hirano said he understands the May deadline to be a basic consensus among the three parties, including the SDP.
As to the Okinawan people's demands that their burden for hosting U.S. bases be reduced, such as by moving some training programs at the Futemma facility outside their prefecture, Okada said Tuesday that he would like to propose to the United States that the two countries discuss them independently of the relocation issue.
The United States has been considering such measures based on the premise of implementing the existing plan for the Futemma air station to be relocated within the prefecture in line with a 2006 agreement.
About Monday's talks between Ambassador to the United States Ichiro Fujisaki and Clinton, a senior Foreign Ministry official expressed concern that Washington is not showing understanding about Hatoyama's move, saying, "This is a warning to the Hatoyama government from the U.S. side."
Hatoyama said Friday in Copenhagen that Clinton expressed her understanding of his decision to put off reaching a conclusion on the Futemma issue when the two talked with each other at a banquet held on the fringes of a U.N. climate conference there.
But with the Fujisaki-Clinton meeting again highlighting a rift between the two countries, a source close to the Foreign Ministry expressed concern that if mishandled the issue could have a negative impact on bilateral ties.
Meanwhile, an official close to the prime minister questioned the role that the ministry may have played in realizing the meeting, saying, "It could be a case in which the Foreign Ministry has tried to apply 'gaiatsu' (external pressure) with the help of Clinton to give force to the existing plan."
Tokyo is reviewing a plan to relocate the Futemma base to a new facility to be built at the Marines' Camp Schwab as agreed under the 2006 deal, due in part to growing expectations among the people of Okinawa of a smaller U.S. military presence on the southern island.
The Futemma relocation is part of a broader bilateral agreement on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan and is linked to the transfer of around 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to the U.S. territory of Guam by 2014.
Hatoyama's DPJ, which trounced the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party in August's general election, heads the three-month-old coalition government with the People's New Party and the SDP, whose votes are needed to pass bills in the House of Councillors.
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