Maher, Clinton saw no problem even if Futenma cannot be relocated

TOKYO, March 11 Kyodo

U.S. political scientist Kent Calder, who is known as an authority on Japanese politics, said Maher, along with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, is known to have maintained a tough stance against Japan in bilateral negotiations.Maher also told Clinton that the best situation would be if the base could be relocated swiftly from a densely populated city of Ginowan to a less populated seaside district in Nago, both in Okinawa, with local Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima softening his opposition to the plan, they said.Clinton accepted Maher's reply, the sources said.Maher presented the view as a worst-case scenario when Clinton asked for his opinion on the best- and worst-case scenarios for the long-delayed relocation of Futenma. He added that even the worst case would maintain the status quo and poses no problem for U.S. forces or a disadvantage for the United States, they said.Calder, director of the Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies in Washington, also said an increasing number of administration officials have come to see difficulties in settling the Futenma relocation issue as long as the touch stance was maintained.Maher was replaced Thursday over remarks in a briefing to American University students in December, in which he described the people of Okinawa as ''lazy'' and ''masters of manipulation and extortion,'' according to students' account. Maher said the account was not accurate.Kevin Maher, who has been removed from the chief post of the U.S. State Department's Japan desk, told Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in December that he saw no problem even if the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Japan's Okinawa Prefecture cannot be relocated, sources close to Japan-U.S. relations said Friday.Clinton accepted and shared Maher's view, they said. Maher was involved in bilateral talks on the thorny relocation issue before he was dismissed as director of the department's Office of Japan Affairs over reported disparaging remarks made about the people of Okinawa.

Under a 2006 bilateral agreement on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, the Futenma base will be relocated to the coastal area of Nago by 2014. The issue hit a snag after a change of government in Japan in 2009, causing Japan and the United States to reconfirm the original accord last year after some twists and turns.