Military

The Futenma Factor in Ozawa vs. Kan

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Ozawa and Kan

Tokyo -- Several substantial policy issues separate Ichiro Ozawa and Naoto Kan as they vie for the presidency of the DPJ, and one of the most consequential is the difficult question of the relocation of the US Marine base at Futenma.

On Tuesday, American and Japanese officials released an "Experts Study Group" report which examined two options, the existing plan for a V-shaped runway design and a single runway plan.

Many of the younger DPJ lawmakers - perhaps a substantial majority - opposed former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's U-turn on the Futenma issue and are still upset about the May 28 US-Japan Agreement which re-endorsed the earlier plans negotiated between the LDP governments and Washington.

Ichiro Ozawa is tapping into this discontent in order to rally support from those lawmakers who are more concerned about the feelings of the Okinawans than feelings inside the Pentagon.

Ozawa said yesterday that he had "nothing to do" with the Hatoyama cabinet's decision to enter into the US-Japan Agreement and said, "If we exercise some wisdom, we will be able to achieve an agreement that can meet with the approval of both Okinawa and the United States."

Ozawa was secretary-general of the DPJ at that time, but it is true that he complained that Hatoyama was not consulting him, and it did appear that the decision to fire SDP leader Mizuho Fukushima from the cabinet took Ozawa by surprise, since it upset some of his electoral preparations.

Today, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku - long a vocal critic of Mr. Ozawa - responded in a press conference by saying, "The US-Japan Agreement was enacted by the Hatoyama administration which represented the government and the ruling party. If we are not faithful to our word, we will not be able to live in the international community."

Aside from Sengoku's thrust, some people interpreted Ozawa's comments as indicating that he had his own plan in mind to solve the Futenma issue, but during today's debate hosted by the Japan National Press Club Ozawa admitted that he had no concrete solution, but rather an understanding that the current plan cannot succeed in the face of Okinawan popular resistance, meaning that Washington and Tokyo are going to be forced to renegotiate the current plan in any case.

Meanwhile, the liberal SDP has been flagging that they might be comfortable working with Ozawa. SDP Secretary-General Yasumasa Shigeno told reporters today that, "on the Okinawa question, I've felt a certain resonance with Mr. Ozawa."


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