Prime Minister Junichiro Koi-zumi yesterday ruled out changes to a US troop relocation plan in Japan after a city overwhelmingly rejected the proposal in a vote predicted to galvanize opposition.
Eighty-nine percent of voters in the western city of Iwakuni voted no on Sunday in a symbolic non-binding referendum on the plan, which the two nations aim to finalize at the end of this month.
"No, there is no change," Koizumi told reporters of the plan.
Koizumi pledged to do more to persuade communities that hosting US troops served the national interest.
"If asked if one supports or opposes US troops, the natural response is to oppose, which is difficult in terms of national security," he said.
The plan, whose draft was unveiled last October, would withdraw 7,000 US Marines to Guam to ease the burden on the island of Okinawa, which hosts half the 40,000 US troops in Japan.
The realignment plan would bring 57 more warplanes to Iwakuni, which is seen as strategically significant because it is only 800km from Pyongyang.
Some 3,000 US Marines are stationed in Iwakuni.
The plan, hammered out through talks between top US and Japanese officials, has met wide opposition from the public who had pushed for a greater pullout. Residents blame the troops for spreading noise and crime.
Koizumi could "forge an image of an administration that ignores citizens' will," said Takehiko Yamamoto, professor of international politics at Waseda University in Tokyo.
"If the government were to ignore the referendum and act tough, then there would be a backlash, a huge movement of opposition against US troops in communities in Japan," he said.
Amid the public pressure, the US has offered in talks to pull another 1,000 troops out of Okinawa and close down three more small facilities on the island, according to Japanese press reports.
The Asahi Shimbun wrote yesterday that government officials were concerned the Iwakuni referendum could turn into "a domino effect to other local communities."
The liberal daily said that the government should consider waiting longer to finalize the realignment plan.
But the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's best-selling newspaper, said the government must press ahead and explain to voters why the deal is important.
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