Japan minister sidesteps Okinawa governor in base row

TOKYO, Japan – Japan’s central government muscled the governor of Okinawa out of the way Monday, March 30, in a row over the construction of a US air base, suspending his stop-work order in the latest fraught chapter of a two-decade row.

The move allows the central government to press on with a much-delayed project that will see the shuttering of the Futenma Air Base, which sits in a crowded urban area, and its replacement on a rural coastline at Nago.

The project, first mooted in 1996, has been bogged down by local opposition from islanders who say they bear a disproportionate burden by hosting more than half of the 47,000 US service personnel stationed in Japan.

The anti-base camp – who want the base off Okinawa – struck a blow last week when Governor Takeshi Onaga said coral just outside the permitted zone at the site on the island’s northeast coast had been damaged and demanded a halt to the work.

Fisheries minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Monday defanged that ruling, with a suspension while the issue is probed, effectively kicking it into the long grass.

Delaying construction work “risks great damage to diplomacy and defense policy by having a negative impact on the Japan-US relationship, as well as affecting residents near Futenma” who put up with the risk of accidents and noise, Hayashi said in a statement.

Hayashi’s decision came after he had examined the governor’s order “from a fair and neutral position,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said, adding the government thinks it is “extremely important” to reduce the risks posed by the Futenma base.

The once-independent kingdom of Okinawa was annexed by Japan in the 19th century and was under US control from the end of World War II in 1945 until 1972.

While most Japanese value the protection the US alliance gives them, especially in the context of Beijing’s growing regional assertiveness, a sizable proportion of Okinawans want a dramatic reduction in their numbers.

The shuttering of Futenma and the opening of a replacement base at Nago, 50 km (30 miles) away, was first agreed in 1996 as the US sought to soothe local anger after the gang-rape of a schoolgirl by servicemen.

But it has been stymied ever since, with local protesters blocking the move, arguing any new base should be built elsewhere in Japan or abroad.

In 2013 Onaga’s predecessor Hirokazu Nakaima, formerly a staunch opponent, dropped his objection to the new base after Tokyo promised a hefty annual cash injection to the local economy.

Many islanders saw this as a betrayal and in November kicked him out of office in favor of Onaga. – Rappler.com