Deal on Futenma expected May 28

A Japan-U.S. statement on relocating the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma could be announced May 28, but the plan will leave Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama vulnerable to intense criticism.

Officials from the two governments were moving toward a clear statement that Futenma functions would be moved from Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, to the Henoko area of Nago, also in Okinawa, sources said.

Hatoyama promised during the campaign for the Lower House election last year that the air station would, at the very least, be moved out of Okinawa Prefecture.

Failure to keep that promise will fuel calls for Hatoyama's resignation.

In addition, the Social Democratic Party, a junior coalition partner that has demanded the Futenma functions be moved outside of Okinawa, will likely oppose the bilateral agreement.

SDP leader Mizuho Fukushima is a Cabinet minister and could block the Hatoyama administration's approval of the agreement.

The Cabinet ministers in charge of foreign affairs and defense from the two nations will release the joint statement by the end of this month, in keeping with Hatoyama's self-imposed deadline for resolving the Futenma relocation issue.

Sources said Hatoyama could hold a news conference on the statement on May 28.

The joint statement is expected to include wording that says no new environmental impact study will be conducted. The study conducted for the 2006 agreement between the two nations that calls for transferring the Futenma runway off the Henoko coast would be used for the latest agreement.

The United States has opposed any new environmental impact study because it would delay completion of the Futenma transfer beyond the current planned date of 2014.

The joint statement will not include a specific construction method for the runway.

However, if no new environmental impact study is conducted, only minor changes can be made to the 2006 agreement, including reducing the number of runways from two to just one or moving the runway a few dozen meters further off the coast.

Hatoyama had criticized the plan to build the runway on reclaimed land in the 2006 agreement as a "defilement of nature."

For that reason, Japanese officials had proposed to their American counterparts a plan to construct a single 1,800-meter runway over a pier supported by several thousand piles sunk into the ocean floor.

However, if such a runway becomes too large, another environmental impact study may become necessary.

U.S. officials have also raised concerns that such a runway could be open to attack by terrorists who could use explosives to destroy the underwater piles.

To address those concerns, Japanese officials have come up with a new proposal that would reclaim land by digging up the sludge created from red-soil runoff produced during public works projects.

If this measure does not require a new environmental impact study, it could be added to the list of possible construction methods for the runway.

Sources said the joint statement would also include wording calling for moving U.S. Marine training exercises outside of Okinawa as one way to reduce the U.S. military burden on the island prefecture.

However, no specific locations will be named as hosts for those drills because the government has not obtained agreement from any local community.

Tokunoshima island in Kagoshima Prefecture, which had been considered a candidate by the government, has rigorously opposed any such move.

While the joint statement will reconfirm the important deterrent role of the Marines and other U.S. forces in Okinawa, it will also reaffirm the policy of transferring about 8,000 Marines and their families from Okinawa to Guam, which was part of the 2006 agreement.

When Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada meets with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Tokyo on Friday, the two are expected to confirm that working-level talks on the joint statement will continue through next week.