May 27 01:27 AM US/Eastern
(AP) - TOKYO, May 27 (Kyodo) — Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said Thursday a joint statement to be released shortly by Japan and the United States will specify that a U.S. Marine base in Okinawa will be relocated to a coastal area near the Henoko district in Nago in the same prefecture.
It is "quite unlikely" for the two countries to avoid mentioning the area as the relocation site for the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station despite strong opposition from one of the Japanese ruling coalition parties to referring to the Okinawa location in the text, the top government spokesman said.
The junior coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party, says it will not endorse the government's policy on the relocation, which will be announced aside from the joint statement, if the Henoko area is mentioned as the relocation site in the joint statement to be released possibly this week by the two countries.
Hirano, speaking at a news conference, also said he believes Tokyo's own paper, due out also by this Friday, on its decision on the relocation -- which may omit reference to Henoko -- is more important than the Japan-U.S. joint statement.
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