Japanese PM halt construction work at US Okinawa base relocation

Shinzo Abe, prime minister of Japan, agreed to halt construction work on the relocation of the U.S. Futenma airbase away from its densely populated site to a more remote area of the island.

The controversy has been ongoing for some time. Japan has agreed to the relocation of the Futenma base to an area in Henoko, south of Nago city, at U.S. Camp Schwab. However, local authorities are concerned about the impact of the move on coral reefs in the area. The local authorities want the U.S. base at Futenma removed from the island entirely. The disagreement ended up in the courts with each side filing suits against the other. Abe decided to accept a court-mediated settlement. The settlement will lead to further talks between the two sides.

Japan had already begun land reclamation just offshore from Camp Schwab. Abe said his plan was still to relocate the Futenma base to Camp Schwab. U.S. bases occupy large sections of Okinawa as shown on the map here. U.S. bases occupy about 18 percent of Okinawa. Altogether, the U.S. has approximately 26,000 troops on Okinawa as part of a security arrangement following the second world war. Japan heavily subsidizes the bases and also is paying for the relocation of Futenma.

John Kirby, spokesperson for the U.S. State Department claimed that both the U.S. and the Japanese government remained committed to the plan to construct the replacement for Futenma. At a briefing, Kirby said:"It is the only solution that addresses operational, political, financial and strategic concerns; that permits the operational readiness of our forward-positioned Marine forces and avoids the continued use of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma."However, The Okinawa Governor, Takeshi Onaga, said: "I was elected governor on the platform of not allowing a new base in Henoko. ... I will keep pursuing this policy with confidence."

Thousands more US marines to go to Guam

A force of 4,800 U.S. Marines is to move to Guam to be ready for war and disasters in East Asia as part of Obama's pivot to Asia plan.

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Guam was seized by the U.S. from Japan during the Second World War. An agreement was reached as far back as 2010 to build a $12 billion super naval base in Guam. As a result the Marines will land "on a sturdy-as-granite pier in a sheltered Pacific harbor newly rebuilt to carry wave after wave of tank-driving troops." In 2012 the U.S. agreed to withdraw 9,000 marines from Okinawa, where there have been numerous protests against the U.S. military presence. Recently, the governor of Okinawa ordered construction stopped on a new base. In response, the Japanese government is taking the case to court. About 4,000 of the Marines going to Guam will be from Okinawa.

Guam is a territory of the United States established by the Guam Organic Act of 1950, which set out the structure of the civilian government. The inhabitants were given U.S. citizenship. However, since it is not a state, U.S. citizens residing there do not get to vote for the president and their representative in Congress has no vote. The U.S. military occupies a total of 29 percent of the island, or 39,000 acres and has jurisdiction over its bases.

The military carries out training and practice bombing operations in the nearby Northern Mariana Islands. The Pentagon is having trouble convincing two islands to grant space for the Marines to train. On the one island, Tinian, the Marines plan to practice ground manoeuvres. A tourist company with an associated casino fears rocket blasts and the sound of mortars could scare away tourists. The Chinese company that owns the facilities has hinted that it may pull out if the military plan goes ahead. Tinian has the landing strip from which the U.S. bomber took off to drop a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. Governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Eloy Inos, complained: “Tinian is incredibly small. In all honesty, some of the specific live fire training activities the Marines are proposing for Tinian just do not seem appropriate.” The island has about 3,000 residents.

On the other island, Pagan, known for a volcano of the same name, the plan is for a large international training zone. However, many former residents object to this as they hope to return to live there three decades after an eruption forced them to evacuate. The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, as the territory is known, has hired an attorney well-known for fighting Pentagon plans in the Pacific. Nick Yost, the San Francisco attorney, said: “Having a place to fire cannons and practice obviously is essential, but this just isn’t the right place.”

U.S. authorities are drawn to Guam and the Marianas since they are U.S. territories. There is no concern that a foreign partner should suddenly revoke a partnership. In 1992, the Philippine government forced the U.S. from its navy base at Subic Bay. However, lately the U.S. has agreements with the Philippines to rotate troops into and out of the country and has a number of training programs as cooperation between the two countries increases in a move to counter Chinese influence.

Japan will pay above a third of the estimated $8.7 billion cost of the new Guam facilities, as thousands of Marines will be moved from Okinawa where they are causing political problems for the Japanese government. The Japanese are expected to participate in joint exercises if and when the new expanded facilities are up and running. The Guam Governor Eddie Calvo, a booster of the military build-up, said: “It’s location, location, location. We’re U.S. sovereign soil and we’re basically in the same time zone as Japan. The next closest U.S. soil is a seven-hour flight to Hawaii.”

Many residents both on Guam and the Northern Marianas think the military footprint is too large. Activist, Victoria Lola-Guerroro has been protesting for five years against military plans. She said: “We’re going to become this island with only one purpose, and that will be for the military.” Her activism, with the group, "We Are Guahan," has already managed to slow down Pentagon plans.

Governor of Okinawa withdraws permission for construction at US base

The governor of Okinawa, Takeshi Onaga, has revoked permission for construction work on a new U.S. base at Henoko Bay on the Japanese island.

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For two decades, the U.S. and Japanese military planners have been attempting to relocate the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma — now located in the middle of a crowded city — on the island to a less populated area. The plan for the relocation has faced growing opposition and many protests since Onaga an opponent of the base won over the incumbent governor last November.

The conflict has grown since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to complete the base. The deal for relocation was agreed to back in the 1990s. Abe is promoting increased military spending and military ties with the U.S. in a bid to counter China's growing military power. He has reinterpreted the pacifist Japanese constitution so as to allow Japanese forces to engage in combat missions outside of Japan.

Abe reversed a decades-old policy that allowed Japanese forces only to be use in self-defence. There was a great deal of opposition and many demonstrations against this move. Many in the Japanese public oppose Abe's hawkish vision of Japan's future. In Okinawa this opposition is even stronger. They feel that neither the needs nor wishes of Okinawans are considered in Abe's plans. As the New York Times reports: Daily demonstrations against the base by protesters encamped at its main gate, and the shouts of “Warmonger!” that greeted Mr. Abe on a visit to Okinawa last month, highlight what he is up against: a public that for decades has recoiled from anything resembling the militarism that led Japan into World War II.

Onaga, at a news conference in Naha the capital of Okinawa, claimed that there were "legal flaws" in the permit that had been issued by his predecessor, who supported the relocation, and announced that he was revoking permission. Onaga wants the Futema base moved off the island completely. Okinawa is host to about 25,000 U.S. military personnel, more than half the number throughout the whole of Japan. Polls show that a majority of residents support the position of their governor. Demonstrators outside Camp Schwab, the U.S. base at Henoko Bay, cheered Onaga's announcement. Under the relocation plan the base would be much enlarged with runways extending into the bay. Very little work has been done but even surveys have brought protests.

The Japanese government will seek to have Onaga's decision overruled. The Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has ultimate jurisdiction over the construction permit revoked by the governor. Government spokesperson, Yoshihide Suga, said:“There is no change to our plan to continue with construction in order to prepare for relocation." Experts claimed that the issue could end up in Japanese courts. It remains to be seen if construction will continue or be frozen until the courts decide on the issue. Masakazu Aharen, of Shizuoka University said that trying to overrule Onaga's decision could be politically damaging for Abe who is already facing declining ratings over security bills he pushed through parliament. Ignoring widespread opposition in Okinawa could further damage his reputation.

Japanese protest deployment of Osprey aircraft in Okinawa

Thousands of protesters gathered yesterday (November 4) to protest deployment of U.S. Osprey military aircraft to Okinawa. The Ospreys were deployed to the island last month in spite of local opposition after 2 crashes elsewhere.

The Tokyo protests are happening as anti-American sentiment is running high in Japan after two recent incidents. A U.S. airman was arrested for an alleged assault on a teenage boy in Okinawa. A recent Digital Journal report describes the incident in which a drunk U.S. airman allegedly assaulted a 13 year old boy after breaking into his home. The boy was asleep at the time. This incident happened after a curfew was imposed on the 52,000 U.S. troops deployed on the island. The curfew was imposed because of the arrest of two airmen for the alleged rape of a local woman. The protesters chanted: "Ospreys out! Marine Corps out!"

The Japanese government agreed to the deployment of the Ospreys just at a time when relations with China too are strained over claims to uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. Over half of U.S. troops still stationed in Japan are on the island of Okinawa. After protests, a number of U.S. troops were supposed to be removed to Guam, now part of the United States, but as the appended video notes this still has not happened.

The U.S. maintains Air Force, Marine Corps, Army, and Naval installations on the island. The total area covered by these facilities comprises almost 18% of the total area of the island or 233 square kilometers. There are 26,000 troops manning the facility. There have been countless promises to prevent accidents, remedy noise pollution, and deal with crimes of U.S. troops serving on the island but events still continue.

In 1995 three U.S. troops gang-raped a 12 year old girl. In 2004 a helicopter clipped a building at the local university before crashing into a residential area. Fortunately, everyone escaped with their lives although the plane exploded and spread debris over a wide area.

The situation has been made worse by the growth of urban areas on Okinawa. At first, green fields, surrounded the airbases but now they are surrounded by urban sprawl with land priced at a premium. One base at Futenma is to be closed down and relocated in the north of the island but the process has been slow and there is opposition to the move in the area where the base is to be relocated.

The Osprey has had a number of problems and it has a troubled safety record. In the initial testing phase between 1991 and 2000, the plane had four crashes with 30 fatalities. Since becoming operational, it has also had three crashes, in Afghanistan in 2010, and Morocco in 2012, as well as during a training flight in Florida in June of this year.