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Japan postpones U.S. base decision by half yr
TOKYO - Japan will postpone a deadline for resolving a row over relocating a U.S. base by up to half a year to November, abandoning Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's original end-May target, the daily Sankei Shimbun said on Saturday. The decision will be conveyed to the U.S. side as early as next week, the paper said, while Kyodo news agency reported diplomatic sources saying U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would visit Japan on May 21 to discuss the base issue.In order to get the understanding of as many people as possible, we will keep seeking their cooperation even after the end of May,' Transport Minister Seiji Maehara, who also holds the portfolio for Okinawa, said on NHK television. Public perceptions Hatoyama has mishandled the issue over a U.S. Marine base on the southern Japan island of Okinawa have eroded his popularity ahead of an upper house election, with a recent Jiji news agency poll showing support for his government had fallen below 20 percent for the first time. Hatoyama's Democratic Party needs a decisive win in the upper house vote expected in July to enact laws smoothly as Japan struggles to keep a recovery on track while reining in massive public debt. The heavy concentration of U.S. military bases and 47,000 troops on Okinawa is a legacy of the U.S. occupation of the island, the site of a bloody World War Two battle, from 1945 to 1972. Saturday marked the 38th anniversary of Okinawa's reversion to Japanese sovereignty. Many on the subtropical island have long resented bearing what they see as an unfair share of the burden for the U.S.-Japan security alliance, seen by many as vital to regional stability. Posted by: Steve White 2010-05-16 |
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