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Japan still aims for March 31 accord on U.S. military realignment+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, March 27_(Kyodo) _ The Japanese government still hopes to finalize plans to realign the U.S. military presence in Japan by the deadline of Friday although it has yet to win consent from affected local communities, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said Monday. "We basically think that it is desirable to reach a conclusion during this month," Abe, Tokyo's top spokesman, said in a press conference. Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga and Nago Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro remained at odds Sunday over a plan to relocate a U.S. air station from downtown Ginowan to the northern Okinawa city's coastline, but agreed to continue talks later this week. The planned relocation of the U.S. Marines' Futemma Air Station is part of the entire realignment plan which Japan and the United States have agreed to work out by the end of March. Asked whether the two countries will finalize the plan at a ministerial meeting, dubbed a two-plus-two meeting of foreign affairs and defense chiefs, Abe said, "That would be the best form," while pointing to the difficulty to set the dates for it. Japan and the United States came up with an interim report on the realignment in October last year at a two-plus-two meeting in Washington. |