EDITORIAL: Tokyo, Washington should make use of new proposal to advance Futenma issue

Although everyone thinks it is difficult and unrealistic to relocate the functions of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, to Henoko in Nago of the same prefecture, no one has openly suggested that the plan be re-examined. A proposal to stir such a deadlock has been made.

A bipartisan group of influential U.S. politicians, including Democratic Senator Carl Levin, who heads the Senate Committee on Armed Services, released a statement calling on Washington to consider integrating Futenma functions with the U.S. Air Force Kadena Air Base and call off plans to move them to Henoko.

So far, both Tokyo and Washington maintain they have no intention to re-examine existing plans.

However, the fact that a key man of the Senate committee that controls national defense budgets concluded that Henoko relocation plans are "unrealistic and unworkable" weighs heavily.

Before the proposal, Levin's group visited Tokyo, Okinawa and Guam and met with Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima and others to learn the actual situation. They also reportedly exchanged views with U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

Financial reasons on the part of the United States, which wants to minimize military spending as much as possible, must also be behind the proposal. There is no doubt the decision was made after careful deliberations on a politically high level.

The Democratic Party of Japan administration broke its pledge to "relocate Futenma at least outside the prefecture" and returned to the Henoko relocation plan, which had been made under the coalition government of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito. As a result, Okinawa's opposition to the relocation within the prefecture became decisive.

Although it has been a year since the Japan-U.S. agreement in May 2010, both governments have yet to decide on concrete plans for a runway to be built in Henoko. There is no way the move will be completed by 2014.

Instead of sticking to this "pie in the sky," isn't it time to seriously seek a next-best plan? The governments of Japan and the United States should squarely accept this message.

Integration with Kadena has been repeatedly studied in the past but has always been shelved due to reasons on both sides. The U.S. side has shown strong reluctance to plans for Air Force aircraft and helicopters of the Marines to use the same base. Even if the United States softened up, it would be difficult to win the understanding of local governments surrounding Kadena.

Kadena Mayor Hiroshi Toyama was quick to say: "Both the town and the residents are dead set against the plan. There is no other way than to relocate (Futenma) outside Japan."

More than 20,000 residents who live near the Kadena base had just filed a lawsuit demanding suspension of flights early in the morning and at night and compensation for damage.

The existing functions at Kadena should be scattered and moved to the United States and the Japanese mainland. The burden on local communities must not be increased. Unless such a firm framework is presented, it would be difficult to even make adjustments.

As it is, the Kan administration has its hands full dealing with recovery and reconstruction from the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the accidents at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Still, it is noteworthy that the U.S. side, which had adamantly refused to make concessions on the Henoko relocation plan, presented a flexible plan that looks at reality. It would be a waste not to take advantage of the situation. Both Tokyo and Washington should make use of it as leverage to advance the actual situation as much as possible.

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 13