ID :
187333
Wed, 06/08/2011 - 19:25
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/187333
The shortlink copeid
Gov't tells Kagoshima of plan to relocate U.S. drill
TOKYO, June 8 Kyodo - Senior Vice Defense Minister Katsuya Ogawa notified Kagoshima Gov. Yuichiro Ito on Wednesday that the government is considering relocating U.S. carrier-borne aircraft landing drills to an uninhabited island in the prefecture from Iwoto Island.
Ogawa met Ito as the Japanese government hopes to confirm the plan to move the drill to Mage Island in Nishinoomote during upcoming security talks with the United States. But Ito showed caution in giving the green light to it, citing strong local opposition.
The governor told Ogawa during their talks at the Kagoshima prefectural office, ''The wishes of the local community are important. We'll deal with the matter in line with them.''
The government plans to dispatch a top official of the ministry to Nishinoomote soon to explain the plan before the so-called two-plus-two bilateral security talks with the United States planned later this month, ministry officials said.
Iwoto Island, under the jurisdiction of Tokyo, is where field carrier landing practice is provisionally conducted under a bilateral realignment road map that says a permanent location would be picked by 2009, but the decision was put off due to strong opposition from people in potential candidate sites.
Ogawa told Ito that the ministry plans to build a Self-Defense Forces facility on Mage and conduct the landing practice as part of its efforts to boost security around the Nansei Islands in Okinawa Prefecture, which are near China and Taiwan.
Ogawa told Ito that the drill will occur two to three times a year, promising that the noise level in nearby Tanegashima Island will be low. Mage is located about 12 kilometers west of Tanegashima.
The senior vice defense minister also said Japan will hold discussions with the United States about having the aircraft not fly above Tanegashima during the drills.
The proposed relocation of the drill is associated with the transfer of the aircraft from the U.S. naval base of Atsugi in Kanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo to the U.S. Marine Corps' Iwakuni Air Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, by 2014, as agreed under a 2006 bilateral accord.
Ogawa met Ito as the Japanese government hopes to confirm the plan to move the drill to Mage Island in Nishinoomote during upcoming security talks with the United States. But Ito showed caution in giving the green light to it, citing strong local opposition.
The governor told Ogawa during their talks at the Kagoshima prefectural office, ''The wishes of the local community are important. We'll deal with the matter in line with them.''
The government plans to dispatch a top official of the ministry to Nishinoomote soon to explain the plan before the so-called two-plus-two bilateral security talks with the United States planned later this month, ministry officials said.
Iwoto Island, under the jurisdiction of Tokyo, is where field carrier landing practice is provisionally conducted under a bilateral realignment road map that says a permanent location would be picked by 2009, but the decision was put off due to strong opposition from people in potential candidate sites.
Ogawa told Ito that the ministry plans to build a Self-Defense Forces facility on Mage and conduct the landing practice as part of its efforts to boost security around the Nansei Islands in Okinawa Prefecture, which are near China and Taiwan.
Ogawa told Ito that the drill will occur two to three times a year, promising that the noise level in nearby Tanegashima Island will be low. Mage is located about 12 kilometers west of Tanegashima.
The senior vice defense minister also said Japan will hold discussions with the United States about having the aircraft not fly above Tanegashima during the drills.
The proposed relocation of the drill is associated with the transfer of the aircraft from the U.S. naval base of Atsugi in Kanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo to the U.S. Marine Corps' Iwakuni Air Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, by 2014, as agreed under a 2006 bilateral accord.
