Okinawa officials push Tokyo on removing Marine air operations
By David Allen and Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, March 13, 2010
GINOWAN, Okinawa — Okinawa officials are unleashing a full-court press on Tokyo to let the government know they don’t want Marine air operations to remain on the island.
Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima and members of the Okinawa Assembly were in Tokyo this week visiting government offices to make sure their unanimous voice is being heard as the government reviews a 2006 agreement with the U.S. to close Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.
Several alternatives to the present plan are being considered by a panel that is to submit its report to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama by the end of the month. He has set a deadline of May for settling on a site with the United States.
The leading proposals are to build a smaller air facility on a portion of Camp Schwab away from the water, move the Marine air units to Kadena Air Base, or build a new air station on reclaimed land off the Navy’s White Beach port.
All are unacceptable to Okinawans, Nakaima told Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano on Wednesday.
“The purpose of building runways off the shore of Camp Schwab was to reduce the danger and impact to the local communities,” Nakaima said, according to a spokesman for Okinawa’s Futenma Relocation Task Force. “Yet, the idea of moving the air operations to the ground area of the base is in the reverse direction, which is incomprehensible to me.”
The spokesman said Hirano, who heads the review committee, told Nakaima that options for moving the Marines outside Okinawa were still on the table and the government would wrap up its study by the end of the month and would consult with him prior to an announcement.
Meanwhile, a nine-member delegation from the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly met with Minister of Defense Toshimi Kitazawa and delivered its unanimous resolution opposing any move of the Marines to a new base on Okinawa.
Yonekichi Shinzato, the head of the Social Democratic Party’s Okinawa chapter, told reporters it seemed Tokyo was leaning toward an Okinawa site.
“They have no idea how much the Okinawan people have suffered from the heavy burden of shouldering military bases since the end of World War II,” he said. “I hope the government fully understands the meaning of our resolution.”
Okinawa is host to almost half the U.S. troops in Japan and 75 percent of the land used for bases.
The Futenma controversy is threatening to unravel Hatoyama’s ruling coalition. None of the alternative sites are acceptable to all three coalition parties. The Social Democratic Party has threatened to leave the coalition if an Okinawa site is chosen and the People’s New Party has pledged to follow if the current plan under the 2006 realignment plan remains in effect.
Even Hatoyama’s majority Democratic Party of Japan is fractured, with party secretary general Ichiro Ozawa, often called the power behind the throne, expressing his dissatisfaction over proposals to relocate the base within Okinawa.
Ozawa told party officials earlier in the week that any plan to keep the Futenma operations on Okinawa would hurt them in this summer’s Upper House elections.
On the other side of the Pacific, the U.S. continues to contend that the current plan is the only option that meets its regional security requirements.
Showing posts with label Camp Schwab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Camp Schwab. Show all posts
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Voting begins in Nago poll that may affect Hatoyama decision on Futemma
Voting begins in Nago poll that may affect Hatoyama decision on Futemma
Jan 23 07:10 PM US/Eastern
(AP) - NAGO, Japan, Jan. 24 (Kyodo) — Voting began Sunday morning in an election to pick the leader of the city of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, which may determine Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's decision on the future of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Ginowan, another city in the southernmost Japanese prefecture.
The mayoral election is being closely watched as Hatoyama has said that he wants to see the result before deciding whether to relocate the Futemma facility, which currently sits in a residential area in Ginowan, to Nago in line with a 2006 Japan-U.S. deal or to transfer it outside the prefecture as he has advocated.
Incumbent Nago Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro, 63, has shown his willingness to accept the existing plan if Tokyo decides to do so, while his sole rival Susumu Inamine, 64, is resolutely opposed to it.
Under the bilateral deal, the central Okinawa city of Nago with a population of about 60,000 will have to have a new heliport base built along the coast of the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Schwab near the city's Henoko area to accommodate the Futemma facility.
"We have suffered for 13 years...with neighbors long being at loggerheads with each other," Inamine told voters Saturday. "But let's put an end to it in this (election). I will not have another base constructed in Henoko waters."
Inamine was referring to a local referendum in 1997 in which a majority voted against the relocation and the fact that the U.S. base issue has divided the city over whether it should accept the base in exchange for a considerable amount of government subsidies. The city has been plagued by fiscal problems.
During campaigning Saturday, meanwhile, Shimabukuro made virtually no mention of the relocation issue, arguing it is a matter that neither a mayor nor local people in the city should decide on.
Instead, Shimabukuro has highlighted what he has achieved during his past four-year term including the creation of 1,000 jobs by inviting companies from outside the city, as well as maintaining economic stability by taking advantage of base-related state subsidies.
Inamine is running as an independent but has support from Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan and its coalition partners -- the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party -- and the Japanese Communist Party, while Shimabukuro, running also as an independent, has the backing of two opposition parties -- the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito party.
Inamine, who is former chairman of the city's education board, is also supported by civic groups opposing the construction of a new U.S. base, while Shimabukuro is largely backed by construction firms that have benefited from the state subsidies and related public works projects.
Hatoyama reiterated last week that his government would conclude negotiations with the United States by the end of May on where to relocate the Futemma facility.
Since taking office last September, the 62-year-old Japanese leader has been evasive on the issue and this has been widely seen as straining Japan-U.S. relations.
Jan 23 07:10 PM US/Eastern
(AP) - NAGO, Japan, Jan. 24 (Kyodo) — Voting began Sunday morning in an election to pick the leader of the city of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, which may determine Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's decision on the future of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Ginowan, another city in the southernmost Japanese prefecture.
The mayoral election is being closely watched as Hatoyama has said that he wants to see the result before deciding whether to relocate the Futemma facility, which currently sits in a residential area in Ginowan, to Nago in line with a 2006 Japan-U.S. deal or to transfer it outside the prefecture as he has advocated.
Incumbent Nago Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro, 63, has shown his willingness to accept the existing plan if Tokyo decides to do so, while his sole rival Susumu Inamine, 64, is resolutely opposed to it.
Under the bilateral deal, the central Okinawa city of Nago with a population of about 60,000 will have to have a new heliport base built along the coast of the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Schwab near the city's Henoko area to accommodate the Futemma facility.
"We have suffered for 13 years...with neighbors long being at loggerheads with each other," Inamine told voters Saturday. "But let's put an end to it in this (election). I will not have another base constructed in Henoko waters."
Inamine was referring to a local referendum in 1997 in which a majority voted against the relocation and the fact that the U.S. base issue has divided the city over whether it should accept the base in exchange for a considerable amount of government subsidies. The city has been plagued by fiscal problems.
During campaigning Saturday, meanwhile, Shimabukuro made virtually no mention of the relocation issue, arguing it is a matter that neither a mayor nor local people in the city should decide on.
Instead, Shimabukuro has highlighted what he has achieved during his past four-year term including the creation of 1,000 jobs by inviting companies from outside the city, as well as maintaining economic stability by taking advantage of base-related state subsidies.
Inamine is running as an independent but has support from Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan and its coalition partners -- the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party -- and the Japanese Communist Party, while Shimabukuro, running also as an independent, has the backing of two opposition parties -- the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito party.
Inamine, who is former chairman of the city's education board, is also supported by civic groups opposing the construction of a new U.S. base, while Shimabukuro is largely backed by construction firms that have benefited from the state subsidies and related public works projects.
Hatoyama reiterated last week that his government would conclude negotiations with the United States by the end of May on where to relocate the Futemma facility.
Since taking office last September, the 62-year-old Japanese leader has been evasive on the issue and this has been widely seen as straining Japan-U.S. relations.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
U.S., Japanese tension colors pact anniversary
U.S., Japanese tension colors pact anniversary
By David Allen and Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Monday, January 18, 2010
Base deal controversy overshadows 1960 treaty remembrance
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of the American treaty with Japan that allowed the U.S. military to keep a strategic foot in the door in the Western Pacific and provided Japan a powerful security umbrella.
But while simple ceremonies of the anniversary are scheduled for Tuesday at a handful of bases in Japan, they will be held amid a backdrop of controversy that has strained the alliance in recent months. At the center of the issue is the reluctance of Japan’s new government to accept a 2006 agreement to build a new Marine Corps air station in northeast Okinawa.
Japan’s new left-center ruling coalition, which in August swept from power the party that had led the country since the early days of the U.S.-Japan pact, says it needs to review the 2006 plan and perhaps move Marine air operations elsewhere.
The U.S., on the other hand, has steadfastly contended that Camp Schwab is the only viable relocation site for Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and is, indeed, the linchpin of the entire plan to realign U.S. troops throughout Japan and move some 8,000 Okinawa-based Marines and their families to Guam.
On Friday, the coalition again stood its ground, when Mikio Shimoji, a senior member of a subcommittee studying alternative sites, insisted after completing a tour of Japanese communities that moving Marine air units from Futenma, in urban Ginowan to Kadena Air Base, also on Okinawa, is still the best alternative to building a new facility.
"My trip to the possible relocation sites (for fighter jets and Marine helicopters) convinced me that our packaged relocation idea is the best and the most practical proposal," Shimoji said during a news conference Friday in Naha, Okinawa’s capital.
Shimoji advocates moving the bulk of Futenma operations to Kadena, while moving some Marine helicopter training to Japan Self-Defense Force bases in Nagasaki and Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni on Japan’s main island of Honshu. He dismissed a concern recently expressed by Gen. Gary North, commander of Pacific Air Forces, that moving the Marines to Kadena was a bad idea because it simply would move noise and safety concerns from the Futenma area a few miles away to the sprawling Air Force base — also in an urban area.
Shimoji’s plan includes stepped up training on Ie Shima, an island near Okinawa, and the Higashi Fuji training ground. To reduce noise levels at Kadena, Shimoji suggests the U.S. move flight training for F-15s to Misawa and conduct training by visiting aircraft at Kansai Airport in Osaka.
Shimoji said the reactions from mayors of municipalities hosting the military bases and the international airport were overall very favorable.
"If the U.S. military can use Kansai Airport and conduct training in the region, I cannot imagine that it would be disadvantageous," he said.
Shimoji also pointed out that Japan enacted a contingency law in 2003 that gives the U.S. military access to every port, airport and road in the country during emergencies. His subcommittee is scheduled to forward its recommendations to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama at the end of the month.
Last week, in a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Japan Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said the alliance must continue to be "sustainable for the next 30 or 50 years." But he hedged on the Futenma issue, promising only to "come up with a conclusion by May, so that there will be a minimum impact on the Japan-U.S. alliance."
Anniversary ceremonies marking the Jan. 19, 1960, signing of the alliance pact will be held at Sasebo and Yokosuka naval bases and Naval Air Facility Atsugi. Neither U.S. Forces Japan — whose mission revolves around maintaining and strengthening the alliance — nor bases on Okinawa have planned events Tuesday.
"This is a tremendous milestone, demonstrating the treaty’s lasting impact in the Asia-Pacific Theater," Lt. Gen. Edward Rice Jr., commander of U.S. Forces Japan and 5th Air Force, said in a statement released Saturday. "This treaty is indicative of our strong partnership with the Japan Self-Defense Forces and Japan officials we share every day."
By David Allen and Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Monday, January 18, 2010
Base deal controversy overshadows 1960 treaty remembrance
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of the American treaty with Japan that allowed the U.S. military to keep a strategic foot in the door in the Western Pacific and provided Japan a powerful security umbrella.
But while simple ceremonies of the anniversary are scheduled for Tuesday at a handful of bases in Japan, they will be held amid a backdrop of controversy that has strained the alliance in recent months. At the center of the issue is the reluctance of Japan’s new government to accept a 2006 agreement to build a new Marine Corps air station in northeast Okinawa.
Japan’s new left-center ruling coalition, which in August swept from power the party that had led the country since the early days of the U.S.-Japan pact, says it needs to review the 2006 plan and perhaps move Marine air operations elsewhere.
The U.S., on the other hand, has steadfastly contended that Camp Schwab is the only viable relocation site for Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and is, indeed, the linchpin of the entire plan to realign U.S. troops throughout Japan and move some 8,000 Okinawa-based Marines and their families to Guam.
On Friday, the coalition again stood its ground, when Mikio Shimoji, a senior member of a subcommittee studying alternative sites, insisted after completing a tour of Japanese communities that moving Marine air units from Futenma, in urban Ginowan to Kadena Air Base, also on Okinawa, is still the best alternative to building a new facility.
"My trip to the possible relocation sites (for fighter jets and Marine helicopters) convinced me that our packaged relocation idea is the best and the most practical proposal," Shimoji said during a news conference Friday in Naha, Okinawa’s capital.
Shimoji advocates moving the bulk of Futenma operations to Kadena, while moving some Marine helicopter training to Japan Self-Defense Force bases in Nagasaki and Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni on Japan’s main island of Honshu. He dismissed a concern recently expressed by Gen. Gary North, commander of Pacific Air Forces, that moving the Marines to Kadena was a bad idea because it simply would move noise and safety concerns from the Futenma area a few miles away to the sprawling Air Force base — also in an urban area.
Shimoji’s plan includes stepped up training on Ie Shima, an island near Okinawa, and the Higashi Fuji training ground. To reduce noise levels at Kadena, Shimoji suggests the U.S. move flight training for F-15s to Misawa and conduct training by visiting aircraft at Kansai Airport in Osaka.
Shimoji said the reactions from mayors of municipalities hosting the military bases and the international airport were overall very favorable.
"If the U.S. military can use Kansai Airport and conduct training in the region, I cannot imagine that it would be disadvantageous," he said.
Shimoji also pointed out that Japan enacted a contingency law in 2003 that gives the U.S. military access to every port, airport and road in the country during emergencies. His subcommittee is scheduled to forward its recommendations to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama at the end of the month.
Last week, in a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Japan Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said the alliance must continue to be "sustainable for the next 30 or 50 years." But he hedged on the Futenma issue, promising only to "come up with a conclusion by May, so that there will be a minimum impact on the Japan-U.S. alliance."
Anniversary ceremonies marking the Jan. 19, 1960, signing of the alliance pact will be held at Sasebo and Yokosuka naval bases and Naval Air Facility Atsugi. Neither U.S. Forces Japan — whose mission revolves around maintaining and strengthening the alliance — nor bases on Okinawa have planned events Tuesday.
"This is a tremendous milestone, demonstrating the treaty’s lasting impact in the Asia-Pacific Theater," Lt. Gen. Edward Rice Jr., commander of U.S. Forces Japan and 5th Air Force, said in a statement released Saturday. "This treaty is indicative of our strong partnership with the Japan Self-Defense Forces and Japan officials we share every day."
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