TOKYO, Dec 25: The long-stalled move of a US military base in Okinawa looked set to overcome a huge hurdle this week after a meeting today between the island’s pugnacious governor and Japan’s prime minister.
Premier Shinzo Abe pledged an unheralded cash bonanza for the archipelago, in the form of stimulus spending that commentators say could help persuade governor Hirokazu Nakaima to drop his longstanding opposition to construction of a new airbase.
“You presented surprisingly impressive proposals. I express my heartfelt appreciation as the representative of Okinawa’s 1.4 million people,” the governor told Abe.
Abe told Nakaima he would set aside at least 300 billion yen (USD 2.9 billion) for Okinawa’s economic stimulus budget every year until fiscal 2021.
The package of proposals also includes halting the operations of the Futenma airbase within five years and the early return of the land.
The local politician said he would make a formal decision by Friday on whether to approve the government’s plan to relocate the airbase on the coast.
“I think we will have a good New Year’s Day,” he told reporters, looking set to give it his blessing.
Abe also told the governor: “The Government will do anything possible.”
The premier also said Tokyo and Washington had reached agreement on negotiating an environmental stewardship framework which would supplement the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).
“The SOFA has not been revised once, over more than 50 years. The negotiation has not even taken place. (Tokyo and Washington) agreed to start the talks,” he said. “We are resolved to reach tangible results.”
Nakaima’s approval would mark a breakthrough in Japan-US efforts to follow through on an original 1996 agreement to shut the Futenma airbase, which is in a densely-populated urban area.
The United States reaffirmed in 2006 it would re-site the base on the coast, but the move has been stymied by opposition throughout Okinawa, which feels overburdened by its outsize share of the American military presence in Japan. (AGENCIES)
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