【英语国际】鸠山下课 冲绳美军搬迁问题仍然无解

The contentious issue of relocating U.S. troops in Okinawa will continue to be a challenge for Washington and Japan's new prime minister as persistent local opposition will make it extremely difficult to implement a key bilateral accord to build a new military facility.

After Mr. Hatoyama announced his resignation, citing his failure to garner domestic support for the new accord, officials in Okinawa repeated their opposition against the relocation of a major U.S. Marine base to a new offshore facility in another part of the island. The plan is key part of the pact signed last week, which affirmed strong security ties between the two nations at a time of escalating tension in East Asia. It turned out to be highly unpopular with the Japanese and prompted a party to leave the ruling coalition.

Yoshiyasu Iha, mayor of Ginowan City, where the unpopular Futenma helicopter base is currently located, said Mr. Hatoyama's resignation gave Okinawa an 'opportunity for a new start' in its fight against U.S. bases. Hirokazu Nakaima, governor of Okinawa, repeated his assessment that getting Okinawa to agree to the plan was 'extremely difficult.' Mr. Nakaima previously supported the relocation plan but he has grown critical in recent months.

Mr. Iha, whose eloquent opposition to the relocation plan made him a national figure, is seen as a challenger to Mr. Nakaima in a November gubernatorial election. The Okinawa governor has the authority to approve or reject building a new military facility.

This has also been a challenging experience for U.S. alliance managers, who were 'unprepared for the unpredictability of the day-to-day relationship with Japan's new government,' said Sheila Smith, a Japan expert at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. While it is still too early to tell the new leader's stance on Okinawa, she said, the U.S. government will 'need also to assess this past eight months and consider the lessons learned for future alliance cooperation.'

On Wednesday, White House spokesman Bill Burton said the Obama administration was still watching the political process play out in Tokyo, but added the security alliance wasn't going to fundamentally change because of the emergence of a new government.

Meanwhile, Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the U.S. will continue to urge Tokyo to stick with the new basing plan. 'The realignment road map is the best plan for reducing the burden on Okinawa while maintaining our treaty obligations and our ability to defend Japan and maintain security in the region,' he said.

Local opposition to the bases has flared up since Mr. Hatoyama's center-left government swept to power in September with promises to reduce the presence of troops on the island, the host to three-quarters of U.S. bases in Japan.

According to a poll by the Yomiuri Shimbun published this week, 58% of respondents disapproved of the bilateral accord and 69% said it won't reduce the burden on Okinawa, the stated goal of Mr. Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan. Such a response came even though the agreement calls for moving thousands of troops out of Okinawa to Guam and returning Futenma and other facilities in central Okinawa to local residents.

Still, the U.S. demanded the new government stick to a relocation plan agreed to by the previous administrations on both sides, afraid that more negotiations would only lead to delays in implementation.

Mr. Hatoyama eventually gave in to Washington's demand and agreed to the original relocation plan with only minor modifications, a decision that proved fatal for his career.

搬迁驻冲绳美军这个争议性问题，将继续成为华盛顿和日本新任首相面临的一个挑战，因为当地持续不断的反对，将使一份建立新军事设施的重要双边协议极其难以执行。

鸠山由纪夫以未能争取国人支持新协议为由宣布辞职后，冲绳岛的地方官员再次表示反对把美国海军的一处重要基地搬往该岛另一处新建的海上设施。这个计划是上周所签协议的关键部分。在东亚地区紧张局势升级之时，协议确认了美日两国间牢固的安全同盟，但结果很不受日本民众欢迎，并导致有一个政党脱离了执政联盟。

不受欢迎的普天间直升机基地所在地宜野湾市的市长伊波洋一(Yoshiyasu Iha)说，鸠山辞职让冲绳有了一个重新开始反对美军基地的机会。冲绳县知事仲井真弘多(Hirokazu Nakaima)重申他的判断说，让冲绳同意上述搬迁计划是极其困难的。仲井真此前曾对搬迁计划表示支持，但近几个月已转而持反对态度。

伊波洋一以其雄辩的口才反对搬迁计划，成为一个名满全国的人物，被认为是仲井真在11月知事选举中的一个挑战者。冲绳县知事有权批准或驳回新建军事设施的申请。

华盛顿外交关系委员会(Council on Foreign Relations)日本专家史密斯(Sheila Smith)说，这也是美国的同盟经营者经历的一个充满挑战的过程，美国与日本新政府每一天的关系都不一样，他们对这种不可预测性毫无准备。她说，虽然日本新领导人就冲绳问题的姿态如何目前还无从得知，但美国政府也需要对过去的八个月进行检讨，并想想其中给将来的盟国合作留下了什么样的教训。

白宫发言人伯顿(Bill Burton)说，奥巴马政府仍在观察东京的政治进程，但美日安全同盟不会因为新政府的出现而发生根本性的变化。

与此同时，五角大楼发言人惠特曼(Bryan Whitman)说，美国将继续敦促东京遵守新的搬迁计划。他说，搬迁路线图是为冲绳减轻负担、同时维持美方条约义务并保持防卫日本、维护地区安全能力的最佳计划。

去年9月份，鸠山由纪夫的中偏左政府以压倒性优势上台，承诺减少冲绳岛的军事存在，自那以来，冲绳地方对军事基地的反对意见日益高涨。美国驻日本军事基地有四分之三都位于冲绳。

尽管双边协议说要把数千军人迁往关岛，并把普天间和其他位于冲绳岛中部的设施归还当地居民，但《读卖新闻》(Yomiuri Shimbun)本周公布的一项调查结果显示，58%的回复者反对这份协议，69%的人说，协议不会减轻冲绳的负担（这是鸠山所在的日本民主党明确提出的目标）。

但美国方面仍然要求鸠山政府遵守两国前几届政府达成的一项搬迁计划。它担心进行更多谈判只会导致计划的实施遭到拖延。

鸠山最终服从了华盛顿的要求，同意了原来的搬迁计划，只做了一些微小的修改。这一决定最后终结了他的政治生涯。