Hatoyama Says to Present Course on Futenma at End May

Tokyo, May 10 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama
said Monday he will definitely decide on a course on the U.S. Marine Corps'
Futenma air base in Okinawa Prefecture by his self-imposed end-May deadline.
Hatoyama reiterated that he will not change the deadline, which he
has set on the relocation of the base in Ginowan in the southernmost
prefecture.
The prime minister, however, did not mention an agreement among the
United States, Okinawa and other relevant communities, which he has said his
administration would aim for by that deadline.
Monday's remark may thus be interpreted as indicating a possibility
that the government will continue negotiations on the issue even in June and
later after showing the policy course.
An increasing number of his cabinet members have called on Hatoyama
not to stick to the end-May deadline in order to decide on a new relocation
plan to replace the existing one that calls for the base's transfer to a
coastal area of Nago, another Okinawa city.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said at Monday's press
conference that there are many ways to settle the Futenma relocation issue,
indicating the government will give up mapping out a relocation plan with
approval from the U.S. side, local governments concerned and all the members
of the ruling coalition led by Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan.
Hirano also said that transferring training operations may be a way
to remove the risk posed by the Futenma base, indicating the government is
considering moving the U.S. Marines' training operations in Okinawa to
Self-Defense Forces bases outside the prefecture.