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Japanese greet US base closure with joy, anger

TOKYO: Japanese greeted a U.S. military base's closure on Okinawa with joy on Saturday and hopes rose for a "feel good" summit visit next week by President Bill Clinton.

Signals from Washington and Tokyo hinted strongly that the Futenma Air Base's closure was only the start of a process that could see the U.S. military give back to Okinawans up to one-third of the land they occupy.

"With things moving ahead on the base issue, and no big storms brewing on the trade front, we think we have the makings of a feel-good summit," a Foreign Ministry official said.

Government sources said in the next five days of visits by Clinton and U.S. Defence Secretary William Perry, announcements would be made to return or reduce facilities at nine of the 40 U.S. bases in Okinawa. Clinton visits from April 16 to 18 and Perry arrives on Sunday for a two-day trip.

The actions would include halving the size of the island's biggest U.S. base, the so-called Northern Training Area, where soldiers go through firing and other drills.

The rape of a 12-year-old Okinawa schoolgirl last September, for which three U.S. servicemen have been jailed, sparked fierce protests against the U.S. military presence on the island, home to about 75 percent of U.S. military bases and nearly half the 47,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan.

Okinawa makes up less than one per cent of Japan's total land area.

Futenma, home to 4,000 U.S. military personnel and about 100 planes, was top of the hit list of bases that Okinawans want closed because it is located in a residential area of the island's capital of Naha.

"The return of the Futenma base has been our top priority," said Okinawa Governor Masashide Ota, who wants all U.S. servicemen off the island by the year 2015.

He said it was the start of the sub-tropical island 1,000 kms (650 miles) south of Tokyo becoming an "international" location, a reference to hopes of turning the area into a major holiday resort instead of relying on U.S. military and government handouts for economic development.

In Washington, a Pentagon official said up to one-third of U.S. property, which takes up about 20 per cent of Okinawa's land area, could be turned over to landowners for development.

But the relocation of personnel and equipment to another base on Okinawa, Kadena, and one on mainland Japan, Iwakuni, did not sit well with residents of those areas.

"It would be an unbearable pain for residents in Kadena if more U.S. military presence was taken for granted there," said Tokujitsu Miyagi, mayor of Kadena.

"We're really angry at the way the state forced it upon us," said local Iwakuni assemblyman Shuzo Nakajima.

U.S. officials said the cost of moving military facilities to other areas of Japan would total over $1 billion and that "the vast majority of the cost will be borne by Japan".

Japanese and U.S. officials stressed the realignments would not mean any overall reduction in U.S. forces in Japan and there would be no strategic compromises in the changes.

"We will have significantly reduced the irritants and the intrusiveness of our presence in Okinawa while at the same time fully maintaining our capabilities and the readiness required to meet our security obligations," said U.S. ambassador Walter Mondale in announcing with Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto Futenma's closure in a news conference on Friday night.-Reuter