May 29, 2010Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Mizuho Fukushima strongly suggested on a television program Saturday that the SDP will withdraw from the ruling coalition following her dismissal from Cabinet by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
Fukushima was ousted from the post of state minister for consumer affairs and gender equality after she refused to sign a Cabinet statement endorsing relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to a site within Okinawa.
"I was dismissed for doing something that was in line with SDP policy, so we are faced with a very big decision," Fukushima said on a Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) program on Saturday morning. She refused to make any definitive statements, however, saying that a final decision would be made on Sunday at a national meeting of SDP leaders.
The SDP had decided on Thursday that it would reject any Cabinet statements specifying Henoko as the relocation site for the air base, and SDP members have expressed strong discontent with Hatoyama for putting the proposal up for Cabinet approval despite knowing the party's position.
"The dismissal is an indication that the SDP has been cut off," said SDP deputy chief Seiji Mataichi. "It is only natural for the party to withdraw from the coalition."
On the same television program in which Fukushima appeared, numerous ruling coalition legislators claimed that the relocation plan that was passed by the Cabinet is unrealistic.
"I disagree with the government's policy," said Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) legislator Hiroshi Kawauchi, who is chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Land, Infrastructure and Transport. "Relocation to Henoko is impossible."
People's New Party's Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Mikio Shimoji agreed that the plan could not be implemented. "In the end, it is the Okinawa governor who must approve land reclamation (for construction of the base in the Henoko area)," he said. "He won't approve it, so it won't happen."
Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Policy Research Council Shigeru Ishiba also criticized Hatoyama's actions, saying: "Don't approve a decision that can't be realized. It's a betrayal against the world."
(Mainichi Japan) May 29, 2010
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