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| Futenma Air Base |
By Akikazu Hashimoto and Mike Mochizuki
Tokyo and Okinawa have a better option
Early last month, Japan’s central government made a surprise announcement that it would suspend for one month from August 10to September 9 the construction of the controversial U.S. Marine Corps air base in Henoko, Okinawa. Building this landfill facility on the edge of Camp Schwab on Oura Bay has been the precondition for closing down the Futenma Air Base, which is dangerously located in a densely populated area. Back in 1996, the U.S. government had promised to return Futenma as soon as a replacement facility was completed on Okinawa.
After the August 4 announcement, senior officials in the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met several times with Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga and his representatives to discuss the base issue. Rather than exploring common ground, however, the central government and Onaga dug in their heels and reiterated their respective positions. The Abe government argued that completing the Henoko base is the only way to close Futenma without weakening deterrence. Onaga stayed true to his electoral mandate by insisting that the Henoko plan be abandoned and the Futenma functions be transferred outside of Okinawa.
In the November 2014 Okinawa gubernatorial election, Onaga had convincingly defeated incumbent Governor Hirokazu Nakaima, who had angered Okinawan voters by accepting in December 2013 the central government’s landfill application to build the base at Henoko. An overwhelming majority of Okinawa residents oppose the plan, and citizen groups have mobilized daily protests at Henoko. Although the U.S. military presence may contribute to Japan’s national security as a whole, 74 percent of the bases used exclusively by the U.S. military are still located in Okinawa, one of Japan’s smallest prefectures. Okinawans increasingly feel that the persistence of this unfair burden reflects Japanese social discrimination against Okinawans, which has a long history going back to when Japan overpowered the Ryukyu Kingdom and formally incorporated Okinawa as a prefecture in 1879.
After the security bills pass the National Diet in mid-September, Abe intends to resume the construction at Henoko, but this move will backfire. Onaga is likely to respond by retracting his predecessor’s approval of the landfill application, and Okinawa and the Abe government will be locked in a bitter court battle. Local Okinawa authorities will use a variety of administrative actions to slow construction. Public opposition to the Henoko air base will intensify and could make Okinawans less willing to host more important U.S. military assets, such as Kadena Air Force Base, the largest U.S. air base in the Asia-Pacific. Any military accident near Futenma that injures residents would have a devastating impact on the U.S.-Japan alliance. In 2004, a Marine helicopter crashed onto the campus of Okinawa International University. Thankfully, that crash did not cause any casualties; but we may not be so fortunate next time.
Read the full story at The Diplomat