(This is a provisional translation of an announcement by the Defense Minister and the Q&A session at the subsequent press conference for reference purposes only) The original text is in Japanese.
Question:The U.S. Senate, at a plenary session, passed a bill for military construction projects from which all expenses related to the relocation to Guam have been removed. What’s your take on that in light of the impact on the relocation of Futenma Air Station?
Minister:The political system in the United States is somewhat different from the system in Japan. I expect that a conference committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives will be convened later. Unlike a joint committee of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors in Japan, the U.S. conference committee holds substantive negotiations. Moreover, the President has the power of veto. Therefore, rather than making a hasty judgment, I would like to wait and see what developments come. In any case, at the “2+2” meeting, the governments of both countries agreed to implement the Japan-U.S. agreement. On that occasion, I requested that facilities in Guam be properly developed. In my recent telephone conversation with New (Defense) Secretary Panetta, I also made a similar request. The governments of both countries have in no way wavered from their agreement on implementing measures on both sides. I would like to wait and see the situation for a while.
Question:As to the relocation to Guam, former (Defense) Secretary Gates argued at the “2+2” meeting that it would be difficult to deal with Congress unless Japan shows concrete signs of progress concerning Futenma by the end of next year. In that respect, what measures can be taken? In particular, from the standpoint of the United States, it may be said that a lack of progress concerning Futenma makes it difficult to make progress concerning Guam. What is Japan’s stance on that?
Minister:I think that’s a bit different from the reality. The absence of budgetary funds for Guam is not due to a lack of progress concerning Futenma. The United States has several pending problems concerning the realignment in Guam itself. While the United States has such problems on its hands, Japan also faces problems related to Futenma. Although this is a very difficult issue, that is all the more the reason why both sides agreed at the “2+2” meeting to do their respective part properly. So, it is important that both sides achieve results so as to put this back on track.