Voter perception prime minister yukio hatoyama

May 23rd, 2010|Josh Hudson
State

Hatoyama has set himself an end-May deadline to resolve the problem, which has also frayed ties with Tokyos key security ally Washington just as the two countries confront security challenges such as an unpredictable North Korea and a rising China.

The prime minister said on Sunday he had concluded the base should be shifted to the Henoko area of the northern Okinawa city of Nagolargely in line with a 2006 U.S-Japan agreement.

Concerns and anger that people in Okinawa have are understandable, Hatoyama told Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima in a meeting at the Okinawa prefecture office, as a crowd of protesters stood outside carrying signs opposing the plan and shouting Go home.

But as shown in recent developments in the Korean peninsula, uncertainty remains over security in East Asia and we cannot let the deterrence of U.S. military forces in Japan decline.

It is a heart-rending decision for me, Hatoyama added and apologized to the people of Okinawa, for failing to succeed in shifting the base off the island.

In a brief visit to Japan on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Pyongyangs sinking of a South Korean ship had underscored the importance of the alliance.

But the governor of Okinawa, host to about half the U.S. forces in Japan, said it would be hard to win local support for the plan.

The idea of moving the base to Henoko is quite regrettable and accepting it is extremely tough, Nakaima told Hatoyama in the meeting, aired live on nationwide TV.

LOCAL ANGER

In the campaign that swept his party to power last year, Hatoyama had raised hopes the U.S. Marine base could be moved off Okinawa, but Washington has sought to stick to the 2006 deal to move the facility to Nago.

Hatoyama later shifted gears, saying some Marines had to stay to deter threats, a move that outraged many Okinawans and upset a small ruling party, the Social Democrats.

In a separate meeting, Nago City Mayor Susumu Inamine, elected in January on an anti-base platform, told Hatoyama that the plan was absolutely unacceptable, Kyodo news agency said.

Mizuho Fukushima, head of the Social Democratic Party, told reporters she opposed Hatoyamas plan, but added that no decision has been made on whether her party would leave the coalition government over the issue, Kyodo reported.

The tiny Social Democratic Partys votes are no longer needed to pass bills smoothly in parliament, but a rift in the coalition ahead of the upper house election would be ill-timed.

Japanese media said a formal agreement with the United States on the plan would be announced on Friday, when Hatoyama is expected to give a news conference.

Details of the new deal with Washington, including the exact location of a new runway and the construction method, are to be worked out before U.S. President Barack Obama visits Japan in November for an Asia-Pacific leaders summit, Japanese media said.

Hatoyama said the government would continue to negotiate with the United States to lessen the burden on Okinawa, where residents have long resented bearing what they feel is an unfair burden for maintaining the security alliance.

I dont consider this as the end.

Additional reporting by Linda Sieg Editing by Jerry Norton source