3RD LD: U.S. forces realignment bill enacted, gov't to begin implementation

Japan Policy & Politics, May 28, 2007

TOKYO, May 23 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH ABE REMARKS IN 3RD GRAF)

A bill for facilitating the implementation of plans to realign U.S. military forces in Japan was enacted into law Wednesday, paving the way for the government to begin full-fledged work to implement a realignment agreement with the United States.

But the passage came amid lingering criticism among opposition parties and affected local authorities over the ''carrot and stick'' nature of the legislation, which features subsidies to local governments based on the degree to which they cooperate with the realignment.

''We will continue to listen fully to local residents while sincerely explaining'' the government's plan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, repeating the phrase he and his administration have continued to use despite the outcry and opposition from affected local areas.

The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and its partner, the New Komeito party, pressed the bill through the House of Councillors by a majority vote at a plenary session, completing the legislative process following the bill's approval April 13 by the House of Representatives.

Upper house members of the four opposition parties voted against the bill.

The law is designed to provide state subsidies conditionally and incrementally in four stages to municipalities that host or are located near bases where the U.S. military presence is expected to be substantial.

The defense minister would select the municipalities that will be given the subsidies, after examining how well they cooperate with the government in implementing a set of realignment plans agreed on between Japan and the United States in May 2006.

The law would also enable the state-run Japan Bank for International Cooperation to provide investment and loans for the planned transfer of 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam.

The subsidies would increase in each of the four phases -- acceptance of the realignment plan, implementation of an environmental impact assessment, start of facility construction and completion of construction along with start of facility use.

The law has a timeline of 10 years through the end of March 2017, but a special clause would allow for extending its validity for up to five more years if implementation of the realignment is prolonged.

The realignment package includes plans to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Ginowan to Nago, both in Okinawa Prefecture, and transfer carrier-borne fighters from the U.S. Navy's Atsugi base in Kanagawa Prefecture to the Marines' Iwakuni base in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

A lack of clearer objective benchmarks has already led to contradictory comments by government officials, such as a senior Defense Ministry official saying Nago would not get the subsidies due to its call for amending the relocation plan and Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma expressing his intention to subsidize the city because it has not completely opposed the plan.

Government sources have also said the city of Iwakuni is unlikely to be eligible due to its opposition.

Nago is urging that a new airfield, the pillar of a plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Futemma Air Station in Ginowan, also Okinawa, be built further offshore than currently agreed by the Japanese and U.S. governments, while Iwakuni has opposed outright the hosting of carrier-borne fighter jets.

The government came up with the hard-line subsidy method after failing to implement a 1996 agreement with the United States to vacate 11 U.S. military facilities, including the Futemma relocation, even though it promoted development measures in affected local areas.

''We didn't get any returns,'' a senior Defense Ministry official said, referring to the conventional method of uniformly providing subsidies and other incentives to affected local authorities.

But many critics say the new ''carrot and stick'' method was devised to prioritize the government's promise to the United States to implement the realignment plan as soon as possible even though it may undermine relations with local governments.