$300M For Summer Construction Now Thrown Into Question
By Jeff Marchesseault - guamnewsfactor.com
GUAM -Japan Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama says he'll wait till May to announce his decision on where to relocate a U.S. airbase from a crowded city in Okinawa. That, according to Reuters, Mainichi and Asahi news agencies.
This development now throws into question whether the military buildup will proceed as scheduled on Guam and raises questions about whether the House and Senate will indeed earmark $300 million in FY2010 funding for a related military buildup on Guam. The transfer of 8,600 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam depends on the new Japan government's commitment to honoring a 2006 bilateral accord cementing the realignment.
Construction to relocate and house the Marines on Guam is due to start between the summer and fall of next year. Washington had been hoping that Tokyo would decide by December 18th whether to abide by the agreement. The decision came sooner. But it's not what the U.S. wanted to hear.
December 18th is the last day the military construction earmark can be included in pending appropriations legislation.
Kyodo News had reported as late as this morning that Hatoyama was expected to reveal his decision on the relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma at a ministerial committee meeting regarding the policy agendas of the three political parties comprising Hatoyama's coalition government. But his only decision so far today is simply not to decide.
U.S. officials have consistently maintained that there is no alternative to moving Futenma's functions from their present location in crowded Ginowan City in southern Okinawa to a remote peninsula in northern Okinawa. The U.S. also continues to assert that 8,600 Okinawa-based Marines, their 9,000 dependents, civilian staff and equipment cannot be transferred to Guam as planned until Hatoyama agrees to abide by the 2006 accord - an agreement that took about 15 years of careful political maneuvering and exhaustive research to formulate.
Despite expectations, Hatoyama wasn't saying whether he would reveal his intentions on Futenma today. He told Kyodo, "I will determine a government policy soon, and do so by consulting with my Cabinet ministers, while I can't mention the date because it is sensitive."
According to Kyodo, Hatoyama denied reports the the administration intends to propose talks with the U.S. to discuss a new relocation site for the airfield by the end of the week.
Finally, commenting on the fate of the suspended high-level bilateral talks on the relocation issue, Hatoyama told Kyodo: "It depends on the U.S. response. We can think of various options."
Read the Reuters report, "Japan to put off decision on U.S. base row: report", December 14, 2009.
Read the Kyodo News report appearing in The Japan Times, "Decision on Futenma said in the offing", Tuesday, December 15, 2009.
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