Tokyo, November 08: As US President Barack Obama is due to visit Japan this week, Tokyo says that a new agreement on a 2006 military deal cannot be reached anytime soon.
Japan’s Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Sunday the issue cannot be expected to be finalized during Obama’s visit, adding it needs more time to be resolved.
Obama is scheduled to meet with Japanese new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama as he will arrive in the Asian country on Friday.
Japan’s new government has promised to review the pact on the US troop presence, with the flashpoint being the Marine Corps Futenma Air Base located in an urban area of Okinawa.
Under the deal, the base is due to be shifted to a less-populated coastal area of Okinawa by 2014, but the new government had said the base may have to be moved off the island or even out of Japan.
The foreign minister however said on Sunday that the government was looking at other options for the base, including expanding Kadena Air Base on another part of Okinawa, or moving the base to the island of Iwo Jima.
“Options are being studied,” he said, while refusing to comment on what the government might do if they do not pan out.
“If we rush to a conclusion that can’t be realized, that would be an even bigger problem.”
The US has about 47,000 troops based in Japan, more than half of them on the southern island of Okinawa, where their presence has often rankled local residents.
—–Agencies