The central government may seek damages from Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga if he continues to attempt to impede the relocation of an unpopular U.S. military base in the prefecture, the government's top spokesman hinted Monday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga made the remarks after Onaga said Saturday at a rally that he will "employ all means" to revoke his predecessor's approval of land reclamation work for replacing U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. The base is to move from Ginowan to Nago, but the governor wants it out of the prefecture altogether.

"In general, it's an illegal abuse of authority for administrative chiefs to use powers given to them under the law for a different purpose than the one (stipulated) in the law," Suga told a news conference.