"I'm Here to Listen," US Senator Says

Steve Glasgow · The Boston Herald · Link to Article

TOKYO -- An influential U.S. senator on Monday emphasized that the United States is open to suggestions on how to resolve the thorny issue of the relocation of a key military facility in Okinawa Prefecture.

"My principal goal in Tokyo, and then in Okinawa is to listen," Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., said. "To meet with leaders, to meet with citizens, to listen to their views on how to maintain the strength of this relationship, even as we adapt to future circumstances."

While acknowledging that changes in both the governments of Japan and the United States had created a certain amount of "turbulence," he stressed that Washington was not averse to modifying its military presence in Japan and was keen to see the issue of the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station settled in such a way that all parties were satisfied.

Webb made his remarks Monday morning at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo as part of a weeklong Asian visit through Feb. 20 that also will take him to Okinawa Prefecture and Guam--the latter of which has been proposed as a potential relocation site--where he plans to meet with officials and residents.

Webb, a highly decorated veteran who spent time as a U.S. Marine in Okinawa Prefecture during the Vietnam War, currently chairs the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

The senator's trip is largely to sound out prevailing opinion on the chances of implementing the agreement originally hammered out by Washington and Tokyo in 2006 that would relocate Futenma to a sea area off the Henoko district of Nago.

"I'd ask you to consider what the stability of this region would look like if the United States were suddenly to withdraw its military from its bases in Japan," Webb said. "What temptations might follow that? What issues of sovereignty might occur in different places in the South China Sea and other areas?

"This is the only place in the world where the strategic and military interests of China, Russia, Japan and the United States directly intersect. It's a region that's known a great deal of instability in the past, and the presence of the United States has provided a great deal of stability," Webb added.

Despite several questions from the floor on the Futenma issue, the senator refused to be drawn on specifics, merely saying he was keen to see the relocation go ahead "for the well-being of citizens in that area," but that this did not mean he saw Guam as a viable alternative.

"I think there could be a number of practical options, but I don't want to outline those options today because I don't want to cut short the discussions that we're going to have," he said.

Webb also touched briefly on Toyota Motor Corp.'s recall-related problems, saying: "I don't see it as a political issue at all. It's an economic issue and a business issue...As long as the leadership of Toyota continues to cooperate, as I know they will, I don't see this affecting the U.S.-Japan relationship whatsoever."