Japan, U.S. miss deadline on Okinawa base

The United States has given up on an end-of-March deadline to reach a deal on relocating a U.S. Marines base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, officials from both countries said on Wednesday.

But the U.S. embassy in Tokyo said a postponement of talks did not reflect any breakdown in the process.

The relocation -- opposed by local residents who fear crime, noise and pollution associated with U.S. bases -- is a key element in Washington's plan to reorganize its military worldwide in an effort to create a more flexible force.

U.S. and Japanese officials had been due to meet on Thursday and Friday in Washington to try to hammer out details of the relocation of the Futenma air base from a crowded part of Okinawa to an area straddling another base and the town of Nago.

The discussions are now likely to start on April 4, Japanese defense and foreign ministry officials said.

"The U.S. did call it off," said Michael Boyle, a spokesman at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo. "It allows the Japanese side to do more local coordination, and they also have a slowdown because of the former mayor's death."

Former Nago Mayor Tateo Kishimoto died on Monday and talks between current Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro and Japan's defense chief Fukushiro Nukaga will be put off until after the April 2 funeral, Kyodo news agency quoted Shimabukuro as saying.

Boyle said the postponement of the U.S.-Japan talks did not reflect any breakdown in the process. "We've kind of kicked it down the road two or three days. That's all we're talking about."

Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Aso is upbeat about prospects for agreement. "I don't believe we are going to depart substantially from the schedule," he told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday.

But Japan's central and local governments appear deadlocked.

Nago Mayor Shimabukuro said he wanted to continue to try to make sure residents' views prevailed, Kyodo news agency reported.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reiterated that the Tokyo government was not considering major changes to the Futenma relocation plan. "The basic thinking behind the government proposal is unchanged," Koizumi told reporters on Wednesday.