U.S. may mull moving Okinawa airfield further offshore: official+

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 Kyodo -
The United States will consider moving its envisaged military airfield in
Japan's Okinawa Prefecture further offshore than currently planned in the event
that Tokyo proposes it, a senior Defense Department official said.

The official, who recently spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, also
said the relationship of mutual trust between the two countries would suffer a
setback if the existing deal on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, which
covers the airfield issue, is not implemented.
It is the first time that a U.S. administration official has signaled that
Washington would mull the idea of making adjustments to the location of the new
facility that would take over the heliport functions of the U.S. Marines Corps'
Futemma Air Station in Okinawa.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who will visit Japan on Tuesday and Wednesday,
is expected to urge Tokyo to implement the existing accord during his meetings
with Japanese leaders.
Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima said recently that Okinawa would accept the
relocation of the Futemma facility within the prefecture, provided that the new
airfield is located as far away from the seashore as possible to ensure safety
and reduce noise.
The senior Pentagon official said it would be a matter for Okinawa and Tokyo to
settle if the Okinawa governor is eager to move the new facility a further 50
meters or so offshore than under the current plan.
But the official also said that if Japan proposes such an option, the United
States would consider it within the bounds of the existing agreement on the
realignment of U.S. forces in Japan.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who took office in mid-September, has
said the government will seek to move the heliport functions of the Futemma Air
Station outside Okinawa, or even outside Japan.
That would contravene an accord reached in 2006 in which Japan and the United
States agreed to transfer the air station to an area off the coast of Henoko in
the city of Nago in the prefecture, near the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Schwab, by
2014.
A source close to Japan-U.S. relations said moving the envisaged airfield by 50
meters or so would not legally require a fresh environmental impact assessment
and so could be interpreted as staying within the framework agreed by the two
countries.
Reiterating that the accord was the result of 15 years of negotiations, the
Pentagon official said a full review of the Futemma transfer plan would spill
over into other parts of the deal, creating a serious situation for bilateral
ties.
On Japan's intention to end its refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in
support of U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan, the
official said that if Japan helps Afghanistan some other way, the United States
would understand and support the move.
Japanese Parliamentary Defense Secretary Akihisa Nagashima recently notified
the White House and Defense Department that Tokyo will halt the refueling
mission after the legal mandate for the mission expires in January.
The refueling mission, in place since 2001, was briefly halted in November 2007
after a temporary law authorizing it expired. The operations resumed after a
new law was enacted in January 2008 and were extended to January 2010 after an
amendment last December.
As for North Korea, the official said the United States will continue to press
the reclusive country to give up its nuclear weapons in a complete, verifiable
and irreversible fashion.
Washington will never recognize Pyongyang as a nuclear weapons power, the
official added.
==Kyodo
2009-10-18 21:15:32