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Japanese PM says Nago election reflects residents'

06:00, 1969-Dec-31 .. 0 comments .. Link

Japanese PM says Nago election reflects residents' feeling on SOFA agreement Japanese PM says Nago election reflects residents' feeling on SOFA agreement Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Hydraulic Hose on Monday that he believed the victory in a Nago mayoral election of a candidate opposed to the current Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed between Washington and Tokyo reflects the feelings of the people of Okinawa Prefecture.

On Sunday, Susumu Inamine, who campaigned on a platform of opposing the relocation #x of the U.S. airbase in Futenma, Ginowan city,Ray Ban, to Nago, beat incumbent Nago Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro, who had said he would accept the plan to move American troops to the city if the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) decided that was the most acceptable plan.

Hatoyama said that the vote was "a manifestation of popular will" and promised to resolve the issue by May.

"We have said the state will responsibly reach a conclusion on this issue by the end of May," the prime minister said. "We will implement it without fail."

Under a 2006 SOFA agreement, tens of thousands of U.S. troops are set to remain in Okinawa Prefecture and be relocated to less densely populated areas by 2014. Since coming to power last September, however, the DPJ has looked to renegotiate that agreement as part of its plan to make ties with the United States more "equal".

The renegotiation of the SOFA agreement has proved to be a thorny issue Hydraulic Hose that has strained relations between the U.S. and Japan. Hatoyama will now likely have to look for a different site to which American troops can be relocated.

Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa also said he viewed the result in Nago as significant. He said the government should take the result "extremely seriously", and attempt to work with Washington and the people of Okinawa to try to overcome any future difficulties on coming to a new agreement.

Kitazawa said he believed the poll showed that locals in Okinawa had expectations that the DPJ government would move U.S. troops out of the prefecture. "It is not good that pressure has been put on local people to make a decision that should be taken by central government," Kitazawa said.

The Asahi Shimbun newspaper said in an editorial about the victory: "While Hatoyama has promised to decide by May on where to move Futenma, Sunday's result could prolong that decision and lead to further criticism - at home and abroad - over his indecisiveness."

It added, "the Hatoyama government cannot simply ignore public opinion and push for a move to Nago."

Inamine, an independent, was supported by the governing coalition Hydraulic Hose of the DPJ, Social Democratic Party (SDP) and People's New Party (PNP) in his campaign. Shimabukuro was supported by the LDP, and had rejected offers from the party to have senior members visit the prefecture to campaign #x on his behalf. 相关的主题文章：