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Gov't to table last-ditch revisions on U.S. base relocation+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, April 7_(Kyodo) _ The Japanese government will table new revisions to a disputed U.S. military airfield plan in Okinawa on Friday during talks between the Defense Agency chief and Nago mayor in the afternoon in last-ditch efforts to reach an agreement, government sources said. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who met Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga in the morning, said, "I told him to work till the very end to gain local understanding and cooperation and I'll leave everything else to him." The central government and Nago have been struggling to bridge differences over a Japan-U.S. plan to build the facility on existing land and new landfills at Nago's Cape Henoko to relocate the heliport functions of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station from downtown Ginowan in the prefecture. Amid speculation that negotiations are in the final stretch, attention is on whether Nukaga and Nago Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro can strike a deal at their meeting. Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine told a separate news conference Friday, "I think the situation will change, although I don't know in what way," indicating expectations for some sort of development. Arrangements are under way for Inamine, who has been insisting the airfield either be built offshore as agreed to in a previous plan or be relocated outside of Okinawa, to visit Tokyo and meet Nukaga as early as Saturday, the sources said. The government has said it will not agree to Nago's demands for moving the 1,800-meter runway offshore, but has tabled minor revisions including rotating the L-shaped airfield by 10 degrees anti-clockwise in response to the request that U.S. military planes do not fly over residential areas. Friday's new revisions are expected to include further changes to the direction of the runway and its location, the sources said. Nukaga told reporters in the morning he will "work toward achieving a conclusion" at the talks with the Nago mayor. Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe also expressed expectations for a resolution soon by saying it would be best for Japan to gain local consent and then reach agreements with the United States at the next round of senior working-level talks next week on the broader realignment package for the U.S. presence in Japan. Senior Japanese and U.S. defense and foreign affairs officials ended two days of talks in Washington on Thursday, remaining split over the cost of relocating the U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam. The two sides have already missed a self-imposed March 31 deadline to finalize the realignment plans but agreed to meet again next Thursday and Friday. |