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Okinawa row: Japan and US drop Futenma airbase deadline | Okinawa row: Japan and US drop Futenma airbase deadline |
(40 minutes later) | |
Japan and the US have agreed to drop a 2014 deadline to move a controversial US airbase on the island of Okinawa. | Japan and the US have agreed to drop a 2014 deadline to move a controversial US airbase on the island of Okinawa. |
Officials from both nations said the Futenma airbase, near the provincial capital of Naha, would be moved "at the earliest possible date after 2014". | Officials from both nations said the Futenma airbase, near the provincial capital of Naha, would be moved "at the earliest possible date after 2014". |
But they did not specify a date for the relocation. | But they did not specify a date for the relocation. |
Both governments have endorsed a plan to move the base to a less populated part of the island, but opponents say that would devastate marine life. | Both governments have endorsed a plan to move the base to a less populated part of the island, but opponents say that would devastate marine life. |
Many locals supported a plan by former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to move the base off Okinawa entirely. | Many locals supported a plan by former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to move the base off Okinawa entirely. |
But Mr Hatoyama was forced to resign last year after he admitted he could not keep his promise to move the base off the island. | But Mr Hatoyama was forced to resign last year after he admitted he could not keep his promise to move the base off the island. |
History of protests | |
Many Okinawans feel that they shoulder too much of the burden of the 50-year-old US-Japan defence alliance. | Many Okinawans feel that they shoulder too much of the burden of the 50-year-old US-Japan defence alliance. |
About half of the US military personnel based in Japan are in Okinawa. | |
Under a 2006 agreement, the US had promised to move the base to Camp Schwab, in a rural area far from Naha. | |
The US also agreed to move some 8,000 Marines and 9,000 of their dependents from Okinawa to the island of Guam. | |
In a joint statement, the two countries reaffirmed their support for those plans. | |
But the statement added: "Completion of the FRF [Futenma Replacement Facility] and the Marine relocation will not meet the previously targeted date of 2014." | |
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told reporters that the relocation of Futenma airbase was still critical to US policy in the region. | |
"Doing so will reduce the impact of our presence on local residents in Okinawa while allowing us to maintain capabilities critical to the alliance in Japan," he said. | |
Protests over the issue have erupted sporadically over the years. | |
One came in 1972, when reversion from US to Japanese rule did not result in base closures. Another came in 1995 after a 12-year-old girl was raped by three US troops. | |
Many of the island's politicians are also vociferously opposed to the US bases. |