 |
| U.S. Marine Corps air station at Futenma |
By Shannon Tiezzi
Okinawa Governor Onaga has moved to rescind the central government’s permit to construct a new U.S. base.
On Monday, Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga said that he is taking steps to rescind local government permission for land reclamation work needed to construct a new U.S. military base in Okinawa’s Nago district. The new base would replace an existing the U.S. Marine Corps air station at Futenma, part of a relocation plan first agreed upon by the U.S. and Japanese governments in 1996.
The relocation of the base to another site within Okinawa has met fierce opposition from locals, who want other parts of Japan to share the load of hosting U.S. troops. Onaga was elected as Okinawa’s new governor in November 2014 after strongly opposing construction of the new base. Since then, he has tried various tactics to force Japan’s central government to rethink its plan. In March, he ordered the Defense Ministry to halt construction work, citing environmental concerns, only to have that ordered overturned by the courts.
Onaga even visited the United States in June to convey Okinawa’s position in person, but to no avail – both Tokyo and Washington have remained firm on the stance at the project must move forward.
“[T]he governments of the United States and Japan share an unwavering commitment to the construction of the Futenma Replacement Facility,” the State Department said in a statement issued after talks with Onaga.
Read the full story at The Diplomat