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2ND LD: Japan, U.S. postpone March 31 accord on realignment plans+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, March 28_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: ADDING INFO) Japan and the United States have postponed a meeting this week at which they aimed to finalize a package on U.S. military realignment in Japan, locking in a lag behind the initially agreed deadline of Friday, Japanese government sources said Tuesday. The development to put off the senior working-level talks scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Washington means a final agreement will be delayed until April. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters at his official residence that Tokyo will do its utmost "to be able to win an agreement and cooperation as early as possible." The United States wanted to postpone the talks due to scheduling difficulties of top U.S. negotiator Richard Lawless, defense deputy undersecretary for Asia and Pacific affairs, the sources said. But a senior Japanese Defense Agency official suggested that Washington asked for the postponement because of outstanding issues involving the plan to relocate the helicopter functions of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station from downtown Ginowan to Nago, both in Okinawa Prefecture. "I believe the truth is that the United States has shown reservations because the issue of relocating the U.S. military's Futemma Air Station has not been resolved in Japan," the official said. Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe attributed the postponement to schedules both for the Japanese and U.S. sides. The talks by the senior foreign affairs and defense officials of the two countries may be rescheduled next week or later, the sources said. Tokyo and Washington had been trying to compile the final realignment package by the end of March based on an interim report agreed to by the two countries in October. The move is aimed at reducing the burden on base-hosting communities in Japan while maintaining the U.S. deterrence as part of Washington's global transformation of its military into a more flexible and mobile force. But the plans have faced strong opposition by the local communities, especially in Okinawa, which hosts most of the U.S. military forces in Japan. At issue is a Japan-U.S. plan to build a 1,800-meter runway straddling U.S. Marines' Camp Schwab at Cape Henoko and its coastline in Nago to relocate Futemma. But the local government wants the new airfield to be moved further out to sea due to noise and concerns for safety of residents beneath the flight path. Also under the package is to relocate about 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam and the two sides remain apart over how much of the cost Japan should shoulder. Washington has requested Tokyo to pay 75 percent of the $10 billion cost it estimates for the relocation and Japan has sounded out the United States in response on the possibility of providing $2.5 billion in loans. But a government official, who asked not to be named, said the issue "will not be resolved even at the next round of talks." The two countries have also yet to agree on where to relocate KC-130 air tankers from Futemma. They agreed in October to give "priority consideration" to the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force Kanoya Base in Kagoshima Prefecture, but the United States later requested the planes be moved to the U.S. Marine Corps' Iwakuni Air Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Earlier Tuesday, Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga indicated that talks scheduled this week with the Nago municipal government to resolve disagreement over the Futemma relocation site may be delayed due to the death of former Nago Mayor Tateo Kishimoto a day earlier. He was apparently indicating that incumbent Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro and other Nago officials are likely to attend Kishimoto's funeral and related events in Nago and so may be unable to hold talks in Tokyo. |