Okinawa: City assembly members demand cancellation of Osprey deployment

TOKYO (Kyodo) — The city assembly members of Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, sought the cancellation Thursday of the planned deployment of MV-22 Osprey vertical takeoff and landing aircraft at the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station in the city.

The request that Japan call on the United States to withdraw the plan was made during their meeting in Tokyo with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kinya Takino, who told them the government has asked the U.S. side to provide information on safety of the aircraft.

Tsutomu Goya, the assembly chairperson, said, however, “We can’t accept the deployment regardless of (the aircraft’s) safety.”

While Washington plans to deploy the aircraft from late 2012 at the Futenma facility in a crowded residential area in Ginowan, the city assembly adopted a resolution to oppose it on June 22.

Kyodo, July 8, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/archive/news/2011/07/08/20110708p2g00m0dm063000c.html

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 Okinawa: Relocation of U.S. base in Okinawa remains deadlocked after talks in Washington

WASHINGTON — The relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture remains deadlocked even though foreign and defense ministerial talks have discussed the issue here.

The Okinawa Prefectural Government remains strongly opposed to moving the base within the prefecture, while calls are intensifying within the U.S Congress for a review of the relocation plan.

“More than 80 percent of those in the political world have been involved in issues related to the Japan-U.S. alliance. The latest meeting marked a historical crossroads,” Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said as he underscored the significance of the two-plus-two meeting of foreign and defense ministers from both countries in Washington on June 21.

Ironically, however, what Japan and the U.S. agreed on regarding the relocation of Futenma base are in line with a policy worked out by the previous administration of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and New Komeito.

The administration of former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who took over the reins of government from the LDP-Komeito coalition in September 2009, had pledged to pursue relocation of the base out of Okinawa through a politician-led decision.

However, confusion continued over the issue for months and the government ended up deciding in May last year to relocate the base to an offshore area in the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, which had been sought by the LDP-Komeito administration.

Details of the plan, such as the construction of a V-shaped runway, are also basically in line with the policy under the LDP-Komeito coalition administration.

Moreover, Okinawan authorities lost confidence in the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)-led administration because it wasted nearly two years after the transfer of power and ended up going back to the Henoko plan.

When Defense Minister Kitazawa officially notified Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima of the details of the plan on June 13, the governor bitterly rejected it as “a merely absurd idea.”

Tokyo clearly stated in the relocation plan that the government will consider Mage Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, as a possible relocation site for U.S. forces’ field carrier landing practices currently conducted on Iwo Island, south of Tokyo. However, this may not be feasible as the national government has not gained consent from the local governments concerned.

Nevertheless, Japan sought to hold the two-plus-two meeting by the end of June before U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates steps down.

“We needed to ensure that Gates reconfirms the bilateral agreement on the relocation of Futenma and the relocation of part of U.S. Marines in Okinawa to Guam before his successor Leon Panetta takes over the post,” said a high-ranking official with the Defense Ministry.

The bilateral agreement to realign U.S. forces in Japan, which calls for the moving of Futenma base and relocation of U.S. Marines to Guam, is now inconclusive.

Tokyo is taking a wait-and-see attitude as Panetta is poised to substantially reduce U.S. defense spending. “For now, we’ll wait to see how Washington will move.”

By Shinichiro Nishida and Hirohiko Sakaguchi, Political News Department, Mainichi Shimbun, June 22, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110622p2a00m0na008000c.html

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Okinawa: Futenma Base Should Be Moved out of Okinawa: Nakaima

Tokyo, June 22 (Jiji Press)—Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima said Wednesday that the Japanese and U.S. governments should sincerely work to move the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma air station in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, out of the prefecture.

In Japan’s southernmost prefecture, Nakaima expressed his dissatisfaction with the Japan-U.S. agreement on Tuesday to give up a plan to finish the transfer of the Marine base by 2014 and to realize the relocation “at the earliest possible date after 2014.”

Nakaima is set to request the Japanese government on Monday to reconsider the relocation plan.

At two-plus-two security talks in Washington, Japanese and U.S. foreign affairs and defense chiefs reconfirmed the bilateral 2006 accord to move the Futenma base to the Henoko coastal area of Nago, another Okinawa city, and map out plans to construct a replacement facility.

Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine told reporters in the city Wednesday that all Okinawa people are against the base’s relocation within the prefecture, adding that it is almost impossible to win Okinawa’s understanding.

Jiji Press, June 22, 2011

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 Okinawa: 2014 deadline for Futenma move killed — Japan and U.S. admit timetable for realignment no longer viable

Washington– Japan and the United States agreed Tuesday that the
deadline to move the Futenma military base within Okinawa Prefecture by
2014 is no longer viable and committed to completing the relocation "at
the earliest possible date after 2014."

The deal was struck in a top security meeting between the two nations’
defense and foreign affairs chiefs, known as the two-plus-two talks,
involving Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and Foreign Minister Takeaki
Matsumoto, along with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

They also reaffirmed the accord struck in May 2010 on the Futenma base
transfer, a key point in implementing a realignment of U.S. forces in Japan.

A joint statement issued after the meeting unveiled a new set of "common
strategic objectives," which were originally drawn in February 2005 and
updated in May 2007, to boost the bilateral security alliance amid
regional security challenges such as North Korea’s nuclear and missile
threats.

They also called for maintaining maritime safety and security by
defending the principle of freedom of navigation.

Although the statement did not name a specific country, Japanese
officials have expressed concern in past documents about China’s growing
military power and increasing naval activities around Japan’s
southwestern islands.

In the statement, China was urged to take a "responsible and
constructive role in regional stability and prosperity, its cooperation
on global issues, and its adherence to international norms of behavior."
They asked Beijing to be more open and transparent in its military
modernization.

The U.S. and Japan agreed to deter provocative actions by North Korea,
apparently in light of incidents last year, including the North’s fatal
artillery attack on a South Korean island, and seek a verifiable end to
Pyongyang’s uranium enrichment program.

Prior to the meeting, Kitazawa told reporters this round of two-plus-two
talks marks a “historic turning point” and he voiced the hope it would
deepen bilateral ties.

Negotiations over the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air
Station from Ginowan to a less populated area within the prefecture have
been stalled by strong local opposition. The current relocation plan has
also met calls for a review from influential U.S. lawmakers who say it
is expensive and unrealistic.

Based on a supplementary document on the progress of realigning U.S.
forces in Japan, the final configuration of Futenma’s replacement
facility is to have two runways in a V formation in the coastal area of
Nago’s Henoko district.

They reaffirmed an agreement to relocate 8,000 marines and 9,000 of
their dependents from Okinawa to Guam, and ensure the necessary funding
for implementing the move.

Beyond the issue of the military realignment, the ministers reaffirmed
cooperation between the U.S. military and the Self-Defense Forces, which
worked together closely in relief operations after the March 11
earthquake and tsunami.

Kyodo, June 22, 2011
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110622a1.html

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