Japan postpones decision over US military base

JAPAN will postpone the deadline for reaching an agreement over relocating a US base until November.

The move signals a change to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's original end of May target.

The decision will be relayed to the White House as early as next week, according to Japanese press reports, while the Kyodo news agency has quoted diplomatic sources saying US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would visit Japan on Friday to discuss the base issue.

Public perception that Hatoyama has mishandled the issue, which centres on a US Marine base located on the southern Japan island of Okinawa, have eroded his popularity ahead of an upper house election, with a recent poll showing support for his government had fallen below 20 per cent for the first time.

Hatoyama's Democratic Party needs a decisive win in the upper house vote, expected in July, in order to ensure legislation is passed without a hitch as Japan struggles to keep a recovery on track while reining in massive public debt.

The heavy concentration of US military bases and 47,000 troops on Okinawa is a legacy of the occupation of the island from 1945 to 1972. It was the site of a bloody Second World War battle. Yesterday marked the 38th anniversary of Okinawa's reversion to Japanese sovereignty.

Many on the island resent bearing what they see as an unfair share of the burden for the US-Japan security alliance, seen by many as vital to regional stability.

Resentment over the accidents, pollution and crime many residents associate with the bases grew after the 1995 rape of a schoolgirl by three US servicemen.

The Okinawa issue coincides with a mountain of problems for Hatoyama including the economy, a scandal embroiling the Democratic Party's kingpin, more flip-flopping over a proposed increase in sales tax and an increasingly disillusioned and angry public.

National newspaper reports citing unnamed government officials said that the postponement decision was made at a Friday meeting of cabinet ministers including foreign minister Katsuya Okada and chief cabinet secretary Hirofumi Hirano as well as Hatoyama.

Analysts have said the next likely deadline after the end of May would be November, when US president Barack Obama will visit Japan for an Asia-Pacific leaders summit.

During the campaign that swept his party to power last year, Hatoyama raised hopes that the US Marines' Futenma airbase could be shifted off Okinawa completely, despite a 2006 deal with the US to move it to a less populous site on the island.

But with his self-imposed end of month deadline for settling the feud looming, Hatoyama shifted gears, saying he had come to realise some Marines must stay on the island to deter threats.

Last month, tens of thousands of residents on Okinawa rallied to demand the premier keep his promise, and activists plan to form a human chain around Futenma airbase today.

Hirano visited the tiny island of Tokunoshima yesterday to try to woo support from residents for government plans to shift some Futenma functions there, but many remain opposed.