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Japanese PM reiterates pledge to resolve U.S. base relocation issue despite local opposition

2010-04-21 16:39 BJT

TOKYO, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday renewed his commitment to resolving an impasse regarding where to move a U.S. Marine facility in Okinawa Prefecture by the end of May, although local leaders of a potential relocation site earlier spurned the central government's suggestion of discourse.

"While this may be very tough weather, we must bring clear May weather to it without fail," Hatoyama told reporters, referring to the flat-out rejection by local officials from Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, of his government's request for a meeting on the Futemma Air Station's possible relocation there.

"We are making all-out efforts to do that," said the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) leader, who declined to be pressed on exactly what his next moves would be.

After a lengthy period of looking at alternative relocation sites for the Futemma base, other than that of the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, also Okinawa, as agreed with the U.S. in a 2006 deal that was years in the making, Hatoyama Wednesday reached out to the public for tips on the matter and how to solve it.

Political sources close to the matter have said that the government is honing in on a plan that would see the helicopter functions of Futemma relocated to Tokunoshima Island -- a tiny island inhabited by 26,000 people and located about 200 kilometers north of Okinawa and 1,400 kilometers south of Tokyo.

However U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos has effectively rejected the plan out of concern that the island of Tokunoshima is too far from Okinawa, according to sources close to bilateral ties.

Not only has Washington all but rejected the current proposal, but the mayors of the three towns on Tokunoshima have unequivocally dismissed the idea, following a mass protest on the island on Sunday that saw some 15,000 residents mobilize to show their defiance to the plan, local media reported.

The mayors have also penned a letter of refusal to be delivered directly to U.S. President Barack Obama, local reports said.

The U.S. government has said the next host town must agree to the proposal before the Japanese government can present it to Washington and has consistently urged Japan to stick to the existing 2006 accord, as this represents the best possible solution.

The existing agreement, estimated to cost some 10.3 billion U.S. dollars, would also see 8,000 of the 20,000 U.S. troops currently stationed in Japan's southernmost prefecture relocated from Okinawa to the U.S. island of Guam, by 2014.

Hatoyama has said he needs agreement from the U.S., the ruling coalition bloc and local governments concerned to settle the dispute over where to relocate the Futemma base, but with dwindling prospects in sight of obtaining agreement from the local governments on Tokunoshima or gaining U.S. acceptance or agreement within the coalition government, the factions of which are divided over the plan, the possible relocation of the Futemma Air Station to Tokunoshima island appears to be up in the air, with just over a month to go before Hatoyama's self-imposed deadline of settling the matter.

 

Editor: Zhang Pengfei | Source: Xinhua