Japan sets May 2010 as deadline for reaching Futemma decision

Japan has set next May as the deadline for reaching a conclusion on the thorny issue of where to relocate a US Marine Corps base in Okinawa Prefecture, but the government should decide on it as quickly as possible, Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said.

Japan has set next May as the deadline for reaching a conclusion on the thorny issue of where to relocate a US Marine Corps base in Okinawa Prefecture, but the government should decide on it as quickly as possible, Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said.

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Kitazawa's remarks came soon after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called in Japan's ambassador to Washington for an extraordinary meeting on Monday to say that the United States wants Japan to swiftly implement the relocation in line with a bilateral agreement.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said he has no plans to reconsider the government's decision to put off reaching a conclusion until next year and to discuss the matter among the three ruling parties, describing Clinton's move as "within a predictable range."

Last week, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said he will postpone a decision on the issue and seek an alternative relocation site for the Futemma base other than that agreed by the two countries, but he fell short of setting a deadline.

On the May 2010 deadline, Kitazawa said on Tuesday, "It's not that because we have set the date as May that we should resolve it then, we should (resolve) it as quickly as possible."

The defense chief noted that Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan and its two junior coalition partners share a basic understanding that this is the schedule for resolving the issue.