May 28, 2010The Japan-U.S. joint statement on the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma released Friday was aimed at demonstrating that the issue has been settled by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's self-imposed end-of-May deadline.
Hatoyama had aimed to reach agreement on the relocation with the United States, the ruling coalition parties, and the community slated to host a substitute facility.
However, the government won consent for the plan only from the U.S. government. Okinawa has voiced stiff opposition to the relocation of the base to the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture. The ruling coalition partner Social Democratic Party is also strongly opposing the plan.
Moreover, the contents of the joint statement are almost identical to those of a Japan-U.S. accord signed in 2006 under a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)-led administration.
In a bid to fend off criticism that the Hatoyama administration failed to keep its pledge to move Futenma base out of the prefecture, the government incorporated in the statement measures to reduce the burden on Okinawa, including the shifting of U.S. forces' flight training, currently conducted at Kadena Air Base, out of the prefecture. However, the relocation of U.S. military training sites out of Okinawa is already under way in accordance with the bilateral agreement signed in 2006.
At a meeting of the National Governors' Association on Thursday, governors of prefectures that already host Self-Defense Force bases refused to accept U.S. military presence.
In particular, an anti-U.S. forces campaign is intensifying on Tokunoshima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, which has been named as a future training site. Even though the government is poised to continue efforts to persuade the local community on the island to host U.S. military training beyond June, it is expected to be difficult to break the deadlock.
Moreover, the joint statement says the relocation of approximately 8,000 Marine Corps troops in Okinawa to Guam, which the Democratic Party of Japan criticized when it was an opposition party, is dependent on tangible progress toward the completion of the replacement facility.
Furthermore, a decision on the specific location and the construction method of the substitute facility has been postponed until the end of August. The May 1, 2006 Japan-U.S. Roadmap for Realignment Implementation had clearly stated that an offshore area of U.S. forces' Camp Schwab in Henoko would be reclaimed to build two runways.
Tokyo also toned down its demand that the two countries sign a special agreement on environmental protection due to opposition from Washington. It only states that the ministers concerned "instructed their staffs to discuss the potential for the United States and Japan to take a 'green alliance' approach to our bases and the environment."
The joint statement also says that the two governments confirmed their commitment to implement steadily the realignment initiatives described in the 2006 agreement as supplemented by the joint statement.
This demonstrates that the settlement was reached on the initiative of the United States, which has demanded that the 2006 agreement be implemented.
(Mainichi Japan) May 28, 2010
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