Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga on Friday snubbed a central government recommendation that his local government retract its revocation of a landfill work approval to relocate a U.S. military air base within the island prefecture.

The recommendation from land minister Keiichi Ishii was made as part of the central government's bid to overrule the governor and formally retract the revocation.

At a news conference in Naha, the prefectural capital, Onaga said he "cannot comply with the recommendation" because the original decision by his predecessor to approve the landfill work was "faulty" and that his action to revoke it was therefore legal.