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The Japanese government will push forward with a bilateral deal with the United States to relocate a controversial U.S. air station in a densely populated city of Okinawa, to a coastal region of the island, as part of a realignment of U.S. forces here, a top government spokesperson said Monday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told Howard McKeon, chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, that the central government remained "determined" to move forward with the planned relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa within the prefecture, as was previously agreed.
McKeon, for his part, welcomed the Japanese government's resolve on the situation.
Relocating the base on the island has been a thorny issue for both sides as Washington has wanted it to be done swiftly and as per a previous bilateral deal, but Tokyo has dragged its heels due to local opposition to the move.
Due to mounting opposition from local prefectural officials and citizens, the plan hit an impasse, fraying Japan-U.S.ties.
Despite strong local opposition, however,last December Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima flip-flopped on his original anti- relocation stance and approved landfill work to begin for Futenma' s replacement facility, in the coastal Henoko district of Nago.
But calls remain adamant from local government officials and citizens that the controversial Futenma base be relocated off the island entirely, as per previous central and local governmental promises that were backtracked on, and not to the coastal Henoko region, as is the current plan.
Under the bilateral treaty the new facility will see the construction of two V-shaped runways, which will mean that land will have to be reclaimed from the sea, destroying a rare coral reef, according to local environmental reports.
The project outlines that 60 hectares of coastal land would need to be reclaimed during the five year construction plan, much to the chagrin of Susumu Inamine, Nago's mayor, who is concerned that the construction work will irrevocably damage the local fishing industry as well as the natural environment.
Concerns are also rife that the project will see instances of military noise, pollution, crime and accidents increase in the area and calls are become ever-more vociferous for the base to be relocated off the island completely, as Okinawa Governor, Hirokazu Nakaima, had previously promised, before flip-flopping on the idea, under pressure from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government.
Anti-U.S. military sentiment has continued to increase in Okinawa since the rape of an elementary schoolgirl in Okinawa by three U.S. servicemen in 1995 and Abe and his administration are battling to try and ease the base hosting burdens of the people of Okinawa.
Okinawans shoulder the burden of hosting 75 percent of Japan's U.S. bases and around half of the 50,000 U.S. military personnel, and, in return for their understanding and acceptance of the base being relocated on the tiny island that accounts for just one percent of Japan's total land area, Abe is trying to reduce the number of U.S. service people based there.
Under the bilateral deal, Washington and Tokyo have agreed to transfer around 9,000 marines and their families from Okinawa to Guam, Hawaii and, possibly, Australia, amid a broader plan to realign forces here, and, in an effort to further show the local islanders that both sides are making a concerted effort to reduce their decades-long base hosting burdens.
The central government has said it will continue to seek the understanding of the people of Okinawa for the base's relocation and will continue to submit the necessary environmental assessment reports to the island's prefectural officials in a timely manner. Enditem
