NEW YORK (Kyodo) Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada says he has told the United States that an undisclosed Japanese proposal for the relocation of the Futenma military base is more feasible than the current plan hammered out in 2006.
Japan plans to hold discussions with the United States to see if the new proposal will maintain deterrence and allow the U.S. Marines to continue to operate effectively, Okada said Wednesday after attending a U.N. conference in New York on rebuilding Haiti.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has been working on the new plan, pledging to settle the Futenma relocation issue by the end of May.
The prospect of forging an agreement is believed to be dim as the United States has repeatedly said the current relocation plan of moving the base from Ginowan to Nago, both on Okinawa Island, is the best.
Okada said he asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates during their talks Monday in Washington to study the alternative proposal.
He said the central government will discuss the new plan with local governments in Okinawa, but they have reportedly expressed opposition to it.
Okada is expected to brief Hatoyama about his talks with U.S. officials after his return home Friday.
The new plan reportedly involves the provisional transfer of Futenma's helicopter operations to the inland part of Camp Schwab in Nago, and eventual relocation to an area off the coast of the U.S. Navy's White Beach facility in Uruma, Okinawa, or Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture.
Consensus urged
Kyodo NewsU.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Japan to integrate its ideas and win local consent on where to relocate the Futenma airfield during his talks with Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Monday, diplomatic sources said.