The central government must quickly narrow its differences with the Okinawa Prefectural Government over a controversial heliport plan for the U.S. forces, Defense Vice Minister Masahiro Akiyama stressed Monday.
The gap should be narrowed before a planned meeting between Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and Okinawa Gov. Masahide Ota in late April, he said. "To make better strides forward from the situation created on Feb. 6, both Okinawa and the central government should sort out the necessary conditions with each other," Akiyama told a regular news conference in Tokyo.
He was referring to Ota's Feb. 6 rejection of the government's plan to build a sea-based heliport in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station.
On Okinawa's recent informal request to have the Futenma base operations moved to Honshu, Akiyama said construction of the heliport off Nago is the most realistic and best proposal.
Further discussions between the central government and the prefecture should be made over the scope of the agreement reached by the Japan-U.S. Special Action Committee on Okinawa, which did not cover the proposal to move Futenma operations to mainland Japan, he said.