May 28 09:55 AM US/Eastern
TOKYO, May 28 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama dismissed consumer affairs minister Mizuho Fukushima on Friday over her opposition to the government's plan for the relocation of a key U.S. military base within Okinawa Prefecture, undermining the already feeble ruling coalition ahead of the upper house election expected in July.
Fukushima, head of the Social Democratic Party, one of two small coalition partners of Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan, lost her ministerial portfolio after refusing to sign a Cabinet resolution on the government's policy on the relocation plan Friday evening after Tokyo and Washington announced a new accord earlier in the day.
Fukushima is insisting that the government should move the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station outside of the island prefecture or Japan in order to reduce the heavy burden on the people of Okinawa from hosting bases.
"The SDP and I will not betray Okinawa," Fukushima said at a press conference announcing that she had been kicked out of the Cabinet. "We will not continue playing a role in imposing a heavy burden on people in Okinawa."
The SDP suggested it will decide whether to leave the coalition when the party's regional chapter chiefs meet on Sunday, saying in a statement that a "grave decision" will have to be made at the gathering.
Hatoyama said at a separate news conference that he "deeply regrets" that Fukushima has left the Cabinet, while noting he failed to win her support.
Fukushima is the second member to leave Hatoyama's Cabinet, which was launched last September, and the first since Hirohisa Fujii resigned as finance minister in January citing health reasons.
It was the first dismissal of a Cabinet minister since Yoshinobu Shimamura was fired in August 2005 by then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi due to differences over postal privatization.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano will handle Fukushima's portfolio for the time being, government officials said.
The SDP opposes the plan to relocate the Futenma base to the Henoko area in the city of Nago, citing possible damage to the environment as well as the prime minister's failure to make good on his earlier pledge not to do so.
Some government officials said Hatoyama had no option but to fire Fukushima, state minister in charge of consumer affairs, food safety, declining birthrate and gender equality, because she continued to oppose the Japan-U.S. decision despite the prime minister's efforts to persuade her to accept it.
Fukushima was strongly opposed to a specific reference to Henoko as the relocation site, but both the Japan-U.S. statement and the government policy that was adopted Friday without Fukushima's signature specified Henoko-saki (Cape Henoko) as the place to host the replacement facility.
In an executive meeting Thursday, the SDP decided that Fukushima would not sign any Cabinet resolution as long as Hatoyama presumed the relocation site to be in the coastal area near the Marines' Camp Schwab.
Fukushima expressed her disappointment Friday morning after the Japanese and U.S. governments announced that the base will be moved to the Henoko area.
"I never imagined that the deals that began with Henoko would name it again," Fukushima said.
Opposition parties, meanwhile, are increasing pressure on Hatoyama to stand down following the release of the Japan-U.S. statement, which came despite his earlier pledge to significantly reduce the burden on Okinawa by relocating the Futenma base outside the prefecture.
"I'm disgusted," said Toshimitsu Motegi, acting secretary general of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, criticizing Hatoyama for the "confusion" the government has created since it was launched.
"There's a gap between what his government has said and done. What was the confusion we saw in the last eight months for?" Motegi said, while calling for the SDP to leave the coalition over the policy difference.
Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of the New Komeito party, said the government is trying to bring about a "fabricated settlement" to the base fiasco, referring to reported attempts within the government to maintain the coalition by manipulating the wording of a Cabinet resolution.
Posts
