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LEAD: Gov't, Nago agree to build 2 runways for U.S. base relocation+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, April 7_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: RECASTING WITH ACCORD) The Japanese government and Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, agreed Friday to build two runways at the site of a U.S. military airfield to be constructed in the northern Okinawa city, Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga and Nago Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro said. Nukaga and Shimabukuro struck the deal on the site for relocating the heliport functions of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station from downtown Ginowan, paving the way to resolving a major obstacle holding up Japan-U.S. efforts to finalize a broad set of plans to realign the U.S. military presence in Japan. The central government and Nago had 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. Nago had been demanding that the airstrip be moved out to sea so that the envisioned flight path for U.S. military planes would not pass above nearby residential areas. Tokyo and Washington agreed on the plan, a highlight of a broad overall package of measures to realign U.S. military presence in Japan, last October. But Nago, along with other local areas to be affected by the realignment, has been upset that the government struck the deal without prior consultation with them. The government had refused Nago's demands to move the 1,800-meter runway offshore but did earlier table minor revisions including rotating the L-shaped airfield by 10 degrees anti-clockwise in response to a request that U.S. military planes not fly over residential areas. Government sources said prior to the Nukaga-Shimabukuro meeting that the government would present new revisions at the talks, including further changes to the direction of the runway and its location. Arrangements are under way for Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine, who has been insisting that 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. Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he told Nukaga to "work till the very end to gain local understanding and cooperation." Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe has also said 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 8,000 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. Under the October agreement, the two nations came up with the plan to build an airfield on part of existing land of the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Schwab and adjacent waters in Henoko instead of building an offshore civilian-military airport on the reef further away from the camp. The original plan had been stalled for nearly 10 years. The October plan was proposed by Japan, while the United States had favored the offshore airfield. The Japanese government, especially the Defense Agency, is concerned that an offshore runway would enable protesters to access the site and block construction again, a main reason for the stalling of the original plan. The relocation of Futemma and the U.S. Marines to Guam are the highlights of a comprehensive package of measures to reorganize the U.S. presence in Japan as part of Washington's global transformation of its military into a more flexible force. |