Japan faces intense pressure to settle uncertainties regarding the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps heliport now at the Futenma Air Station in Okinawa before July, when it hosts a Group of Eight summit. Unless the problems are settled by then, U.S. President Bill Clinton is likely to face a firestorm of anti-U.S. protests when he visits Okinawa to attend the summit. The new millennium problem for Japan will have a serious influence on Japan-U.S. security relations.
The Japanese government, in a Cabinet meeting in December, approved a plan to build the substitute facility near Camp Schwab that would take over operations of the Futenma facility, which is to be returned to Japanese control. The action came three years after the Japan-U.S. Special Action Committee on Okinawa endorsed relocation of the Futenma installation in a final report as part of agreement on reorganizing U.S. military bases in Okinawa. The new facility is to be located in the Henoko district of Nago.
A plan to build a heliport off Nago, adopted by the government following the SACO agreement, was stymied when a majority voted in a plebiscite two years ago against construction of the facility.
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