US envoy to discuss Japan bases
UPDATED ON:
Monday, February 01, 2010
08:47 Mecca time, 05:47 GMT
The US assistant secretary of state for East Asia is due to arrive in Tokyo on Monday for talks on the future of American military bases in Japan.
Kurt Campbell's visit comes after thousands of people from across Japan joined protests at the weekend against plans to relocate a US base on the southern island of Okinawa.
Some 47,000 US troops are stationed in Japan, with more than half on the island.
Local residents have long complained about noise, pollution and crime around the bases.
In 2006, the two countries signed a pact that called for the realignment of American troops in the country and for a marine base on the island to be moved to a less populated area.
But the newly elected Japanese government is re-examining the deal, caught between increasing public opposition to US troops and its crucial military alliance with Washington.
'Cornerstone' alliance
Last month Campbell called on Japan to stick to the 2006 deal and relocate the US Futenma air base in Okinawa.
In written testimony before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee subcommittee on January 21, Campbell said the alliance with Japan was a "cornerstone" of the US engagement in Asia.
Campbell also reiterated Washington's desire to see that the US Marine Corps Air Station at Futenma be transferred to another area on the island by 2014.
He said the US is assisting the Japanese government, led by prime minister Yukio Hatoyama, with its review of the Futenma relocation plan.
Decision postponed
However, Hatoyama has repeatedly postponed his decision on the pact, with members of his own government divided on how to proceed.
Last week, he pledged to resolve the issue by May, just before national elections.
But the issue is a difficult one for the prime minister to juggle, with members of his coalition government calling for all US troops to leave Japan.
At a rally against the base, Mizuho Fukushima, a minister in Hatoyama's cabinet, told a crowd protesters that she wants to see the Okinawa base closed and US troops moved out of Japan entirely.
Meanwhile, opposition to the US-Japan pact is growing louder, as thousands marched through central Tokyo on Saturday.
Labor unionists, pacifists, environmentalists and students called for an end to the US troop presence.
They gathered for a rally at a park, under a banner that read "Change! Japan-U.S. Relations".
Showing posts with label Noise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Noise. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Economist: Buildup, tourism can coexist
Economist: Buildup, tourism can coexist
By Laura Matthews • Pacific Daily News • January 29, 2010
Guam's biggest export is its sunshine, and more than a million visitors travel here every year to enjoy what they lack in their cold climate -- beautiful beaches and tropical weather.
However, with the military buildup less than five years away, some are wondering if it will connect with a tourism industry that has been providing for the island for more than 40 years.
Claret Ruane, resident economist for the University of Guam's Pacific Center for Economic Initiatives, believes the two giants can live together.
"When you have more military here, their friends and families will be visiting from the mainland and that will be a resource for tourism," Ruane said. "And I am thinking not only can they coexist, but you can push forward for sustainable tourism -- ecotourism."
Speaking at the Fourth Annual Youth Summit at the Harvest Life Center in Barrigada yesterday, Ruane said because the purchasing power of people from the mainland is high, they will tend to splurge on the "expensive tourism product."
Ruane said her only problem is she wished the island had more tourism products to offer. She said everyone will need to take on a new outlook as the buildup approaches.
"Military buildup or not, we need to move the island forward," Ruane said. "We should have been a stronger economy to begin with and we have to start today to think about what it is we need to do. ... We can't turn everybody into the construction business and work the jobs ourselves. We should start thinking of new industries."
But there are some who feel the $15 billion buildup could be a pyrrhic victory.
"The bottom line is that it appears that economic impacts exceed economic benefits," said Anthony C, Blaz, administrator for the Guam Economic Development Authority.
The draft Environmental Impact Statement states that while the hotels will benefit "considerably" from the buildup, the general service sector could experience a period of hardship from losing labor to higher-paying jobs. It also says the pressure for increased wages could impair competition with inexpensive Asian destinations.
Furthermore, even though the government could get about $423 million more in tax revenue at the peak of the buildup in 2014 than it currently does, that would trickle to about $104 million more in 2017 than current government revenues. After 2014, the island could experience a recession-like period that could send some businesses packing or experience cutbacks and workers migrating because of job losses.
Cara Flores-Mays, a small business owner and a member of We Are Guahan, believes that the military buildup and tourism are incompatible. We Are Guahan is a group of concerned citizens who are reading the draft EIS and trying to simplify it for residents.
She said the dredging of the ocean and excess noise from the additional aircraft visits could have a negative impact.
The Department of Defense plans to widen an existing shipping channel to fit a carrier. Additionally, to create a turning basin near the wharf, about 2.3 million square feet of sea floor will be dredged.
About 35 percent of that area is covered in coral reef that will be permanently destroyed, the draft EIS states.
"We could basically lose markets to buildup construction that will cause chaos," Flores-Mays said. "We cannot rely on the military to be our savior. Prosperity for a few is greed if it's not prosperity for all."
Vice Speaker Benjamin Cruz, the chairman for the Committee on Tourism, said the only way the two opportunities can work for Guam is if the military doesn't insist that it has to destroy the reef, and build on other properties it has in the north.
"I'm almost ready to suggest to them to keep yourselves within your reservations," he said. "Don't destroy the island."
By Laura Matthews • Pacific Daily News • January 29, 2010
Guam's biggest export is its sunshine, and more than a million visitors travel here every year to enjoy what they lack in their cold climate -- beautiful beaches and tropical weather.
However, with the military buildup less than five years away, some are wondering if it will connect with a tourism industry that has been providing for the island for more than 40 years.
Claret Ruane, resident economist for the University of Guam's Pacific Center for Economic Initiatives, believes the two giants can live together.
"When you have more military here, their friends and families will be visiting from the mainland and that will be a resource for tourism," Ruane said. "And I am thinking not only can they coexist, but you can push forward for sustainable tourism -- ecotourism."
Speaking at the Fourth Annual Youth Summit at the Harvest Life Center in Barrigada yesterday, Ruane said because the purchasing power of people from the mainland is high, they will tend to splurge on the "expensive tourism product."
Ruane said her only problem is she wished the island had more tourism products to offer. She said everyone will need to take on a new outlook as the buildup approaches.
"Military buildup or not, we need to move the island forward," Ruane said. "We should have been a stronger economy to begin with and we have to start today to think about what it is we need to do. ... We can't turn everybody into the construction business and work the jobs ourselves. We should start thinking of new industries."
But there are some who feel the $15 billion buildup could be a pyrrhic victory.
"The bottom line is that it appears that economic impacts exceed economic benefits," said Anthony C, Blaz, administrator for the Guam Economic Development Authority.
The draft Environmental Impact Statement states that while the hotels will benefit "considerably" from the buildup, the general service sector could experience a period of hardship from losing labor to higher-paying jobs. It also says the pressure for increased wages could impair competition with inexpensive Asian destinations.
Furthermore, even though the government could get about $423 million more in tax revenue at the peak of the buildup in 2014 than it currently does, that would trickle to about $104 million more in 2017 than current government revenues. After 2014, the island could experience a recession-like period that could send some businesses packing or experience cutbacks and workers migrating because of job losses.
Cara Flores-Mays, a small business owner and a member of We Are Guahan, believes that the military buildup and tourism are incompatible. We Are Guahan is a group of concerned citizens who are reading the draft EIS and trying to simplify it for residents.
She said the dredging of the ocean and excess noise from the additional aircraft visits could have a negative impact.
The Department of Defense plans to widen an existing shipping channel to fit a carrier. Additionally, to create a turning basin near the wharf, about 2.3 million square feet of sea floor will be dredged.
About 35 percent of that area is covered in coral reef that will be permanently destroyed, the draft EIS states.
"We could basically lose markets to buildup construction that will cause chaos," Flores-Mays said. "We cannot rely on the military to be our savior. Prosperity for a few is greed if it's not prosperity for all."
Vice Speaker Benjamin Cruz, the chairman for the Committee on Tourism, said the only way the two opportunities can work for Guam is if the military doesn't insist that it has to destroy the reef, and build on other properties it has in the north.
"I'm almost ready to suggest to them to keep yourselves within your reservations," he said. "Don't destroy the island."
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Mayor's election in Okinawa is setback for U.S. air base move
Mayor's election in Okinawa is setback for U.S. air base move
By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 25, 2010
TOKYO -- In a small-town election that may have a big impact on U.S. ties with Japan, voters in Nago on Okinawa chose a new mayor Sunday who opposes the relocation of a noisy U.S. military air base to his town.
Susumu Inamine, who said during his campaign that he did not want the air station constructed in Nago, defeated the incumbent, Yoshikazu Shimabukuro, who has long supported hosting the base as a way of increasing jobs and investment.
"I was campaigning in the election with a pledge not to have a new base built," Inamine told supporters Sunday night.
The United States and Japan agreed four years ago to move the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, now located in a dense urban area in the center of Okinawa, to Nago, a town of 60,000 in the thinly populated northern part of the tropical island. It was to have been built on landfill along a pristine coast on the edge of the town.
But to the exasperation of the Obama administration, that deal was put on hold last fall after the election of a new government led by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who says Japan has been too passive in its dealings with the United States. Hatoyama has suggested that the base be moved off Okinawa or out of Japan altogether -- and has also said that the outcome of the mayoral vote in Nago would be a factor in his government's final decision, which he has promised to make by May.
Inamine's anti-base campaign attracted support from environmentalists and from local members of Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan and its coalition partners, as well as from the Japanese Communist Party.
Nago's mayor avoided mention of the airbase in his campaign, saying its relocation was not a matter that could or should be decided by him or residents of his city.
That view is shared by U.S. Marine Corps commanders, who view the Futenma air station as a linchpin in the continuous training and on-call mobility of the Third Marine Expeditionary Force, which is based on Okinawa and is the only such U.S. force in the Far East.
"National security policy cannot be made in towns and villages," Lt. Gen. Keith J. Stalder, commander of Marine forces in the Pacific, said in an interview last week.
Relocating the Marine air station to Nago is a key part of a $26 billion deal between Japan and the United States to transfer 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam and turn over valuable tracts of land to people on the island. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said last fall that the deal would probably collapse if the air station does not move to Nago.
Several U.S. officials said last week they believe that senior leaders in the Hatoyama government have begun to realize that there is no workable alternative to relocating the air station as previously agreed. They also said that such an important decision should be made in Tokyo and not in a local election.
Construction of the air station in Nago would require a massive landfill in a picturesque stretch of waters now used by fishermen and snorkelers. It is opposed by environmentalists who have filed a lawsuit saying it would destroy habitat of the rare dugong, a manatee-like sea mammal. A Japanese government environmental assessment has said that dugongs have not been seen in the proposed construction area for many years.
For many Okinawans, the Futenma air station has become a symbol of the noise, pollution and risk of accidents that they associate with the large U.S. military presence on the island.
Surrounded by 92,000 people in the city of Ginowan, Futenma torments its neighbors with the comings and going of combat helicopters and transport aircraft.
In 2004, a helicopter based at the airfield crashed into the administration building of a nearby college. There were no deaths, but the incident angered local residents and led to the 2006 agreement to move the air base to Nago.
The vote in Nago does not necessarily kill the relocation of the air station. The final decision is up to the governor of Okinawa, who has shown qualified support for the base relocation plan, and the central government in Tokyo.
By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 25, 2010
TOKYO -- In a small-town election that may have a big impact on U.S. ties with Japan, voters in Nago on Okinawa chose a new mayor Sunday who opposes the relocation of a noisy U.S. military air base to his town.
Susumu Inamine, who said during his campaign that he did not want the air station constructed in Nago, defeated the incumbent, Yoshikazu Shimabukuro, who has long supported hosting the base as a way of increasing jobs and investment.
"I was campaigning in the election with a pledge not to have a new base built," Inamine told supporters Sunday night.
The United States and Japan agreed four years ago to move the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, now located in a dense urban area in the center of Okinawa, to Nago, a town of 60,000 in the thinly populated northern part of the tropical island. It was to have been built on landfill along a pristine coast on the edge of the town.
But to the exasperation of the Obama administration, that deal was put on hold last fall after the election of a new government led by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who says Japan has been too passive in its dealings with the United States. Hatoyama has suggested that the base be moved off Okinawa or out of Japan altogether -- and has also said that the outcome of the mayoral vote in Nago would be a factor in his government's final decision, which he has promised to make by May.
Inamine's anti-base campaign attracted support from environmentalists and from local members of Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan and its coalition partners, as well as from the Japanese Communist Party.
Nago's mayor avoided mention of the airbase in his campaign, saying its relocation was not a matter that could or should be decided by him or residents of his city.
That view is shared by U.S. Marine Corps commanders, who view the Futenma air station as a linchpin in the continuous training and on-call mobility of the Third Marine Expeditionary Force, which is based on Okinawa and is the only such U.S. force in the Far East.
"National security policy cannot be made in towns and villages," Lt. Gen. Keith J. Stalder, commander of Marine forces in the Pacific, said in an interview last week.
Relocating the Marine air station to Nago is a key part of a $26 billion deal between Japan and the United States to transfer 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam and turn over valuable tracts of land to people on the island. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said last fall that the deal would probably collapse if the air station does not move to Nago.
Several U.S. officials said last week they believe that senior leaders in the Hatoyama government have begun to realize that there is no workable alternative to relocating the air station as previously agreed. They also said that such an important decision should be made in Tokyo and not in a local election.
Construction of the air station in Nago would require a massive landfill in a picturesque stretch of waters now used by fishermen and snorkelers. It is opposed by environmentalists who have filed a lawsuit saying it would destroy habitat of the rare dugong, a manatee-like sea mammal. A Japanese government environmental assessment has said that dugongs have not been seen in the proposed construction area for many years.
For many Okinawans, the Futenma air station has become a symbol of the noise, pollution and risk of accidents that they associate with the large U.S. military presence on the island.
Surrounded by 92,000 people in the city of Ginowan, Futenma torments its neighbors with the comings and going of combat helicopters and transport aircraft.
In 2004, a helicopter based at the airfield crashed into the administration building of a nearby college. There were no deaths, but the incident angered local residents and led to the 2006 agreement to move the air base to Nago.
The vote in Nago does not necessarily kill the relocation of the air station. The final decision is up to the governor of Okinawa, who has shown qualified support for the base relocation plan, and the central government in Tokyo.
Legislature's public hearings on DEIS start today
Legislature's public hearings on DEIS start today
By Laura Matthews • Pacific Daily News • January 25, 2010
The first of the Legislature's weeklong public hearings on the draft Environmental Impact Statement begins today from 4 to 9 p.m.
All the hearings will be held at the Legislature building in Hagåtña.
These hearings will give residents another opportunity to learn about the military buildup and submit their comments before the Feb. 17 deadline.
All comments on the document will be taken into consideration and could affect what actions the military conducts on the island in order to prepare for the arrival of the 8,000 Marines and their dependents.
The draft EIS was released on Nov. 20 for public viewing and has vital information on how every aspect of life on Guam will change during the military buildup.
The Department of the Navy is preparing the draft to assess the potential environmental effects associated with the proposed military activities. The Navy is the lead agency for preparation of the draft EIS.
The Defense Department -- in preparing for the relocation of the Marines from Okinawa to Guam -- will need to provide them with a firing range for practice. Additionally, with an increase in aircraft activities, there will be more noise on the island.
The proposed actions are complex, multiservice projects involving components of the U.S. Marine Corps, Navy and Army, according to the Department of Defense. Each volume in the nine-volume draft EIS evaluates a discrete portion of the proposed actions.
"Don't be afraid to come because you're not familiar with the 11,000 pages. Just come and tell us what your thinking is, and we'll translate it into the proper format," Sen. Judith Guthertz advised residents last week.
Guthertz is the chairwoman of the legislative Committee on the Guam Military Buildup.
Since the start of the year, numerous public buildup hearings have been held by both the Defense Department and local bodies.
Gov. Felix Camacho held two presentations last week where his Advisory Consultant Team broke down the thousands of pages in the draft EIS into simple language for residents within the two-hour periods.
Residents were taught how to write "action" comments that will generate a response from the Defense Department.
The team also highlighted the major developments proposed by the military that will forever change the shape of Guam. The approximately 80,000 off-islanders to come to Guam by 2014 to occupy the jobs from the buildup, will affect all of Guam's sectors such as utilities, public safety and health services.
By Laura Matthews • Pacific Daily News • January 25, 2010
The first of the Legislature's weeklong public hearings on the draft Environmental Impact Statement begins today from 4 to 9 p.m.
All the hearings will be held at the Legislature building in Hagåtña.
These hearings will give residents another opportunity to learn about the military buildup and submit their comments before the Feb. 17 deadline.
All comments on the document will be taken into consideration and could affect what actions the military conducts on the island in order to prepare for the arrival of the 8,000 Marines and their dependents.
The draft EIS was released on Nov. 20 for public viewing and has vital information on how every aspect of life on Guam will change during the military buildup.
The Department of the Navy is preparing the draft to assess the potential environmental effects associated with the proposed military activities. The Navy is the lead agency for preparation of the draft EIS.
The Defense Department -- in preparing for the relocation of the Marines from Okinawa to Guam -- will need to provide them with a firing range for practice. Additionally, with an increase in aircraft activities, there will be more noise on the island.
The proposed actions are complex, multiservice projects involving components of the U.S. Marine Corps, Navy and Army, according to the Department of Defense. Each volume in the nine-volume draft EIS evaluates a discrete portion of the proposed actions.
"Don't be afraid to come because you're not familiar with the 11,000 pages. Just come and tell us what your thinking is, and we'll translate it into the proper format," Sen. Judith Guthertz advised residents last week.
Guthertz is the chairwoman of the legislative Committee on the Guam Military Buildup.
Since the start of the year, numerous public buildup hearings have been held by both the Defense Department and local bodies.
Gov. Felix Camacho held two presentations last week where his Advisory Consultant Team broke down the thousands of pages in the draft EIS into simple language for residents within the two-hour periods.
Residents were taught how to write "action" comments that will generate a response from the Defense Department.
The team also highlighted the major developments proposed by the military that will forever change the shape of Guam. The approximately 80,000 off-islanders to come to Guam by 2014 to occupy the jobs from the buildup, will affect all of Guam's sectors such as utilities, public safety and health services.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Future of Okinawa base strains U.S.-Japanese alliance
Future of Okinawa base strains U.S.-Japanese alliance
By Blaine Harden
washington post foreign service
Sunday, January 24, 2010; A13
GINOWAN, JAPAN -- The people of Okinawa and the U.S. Marine Corps agree on at least one thing: The Futenma Marine air station is a noisy dinosaur that needs to move elsewhere -- and soon.
Smack in the middle of this densely packed city of 92,000 and taking up about a quarter of its land, the air base torments its neighbors with the howl of combat helicopters and the shudder of C-130 transport planes.
"The noise is unbearable," said Harumi Chinen, principal of Futenma No. 2 Elementary School, where about 780 children study in buildings next to the airfield. "A school should be very comforting and safe. That is not the case here."
Where can the Marines and their earsplitting machines go? That question has triggered the most serious quarrel in the history of the traditionally harmonious U.S.-Japanese alliance, which last week marked its 50th anniversary.
The relocation question has exasperated the Obama administration and strained its dealings with a country that the United States is treaty-bound to protect in case of attack. Hanging in the balance is the future of a $26 billion deal between Japan and the United States to transfer 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam and turn over several valuable tracts of urban land to the people of the island.
Worry, too, has spread across East Asia, as officials from South Korea to Australia have expressed concern about the future of the U.S. security role in the region.
The 14,200 Marines who train with aircraft from Futenma are the only mobile U.S. ground forces based in East Asia, said Lt. Gen. Keith J. Stalder, commander of Marine forces in the Pacific. "They bring a lot of stability and security that allows the Asia Pacific region to be a relatively peaceful place," he said.
Yet even from a Marine point of view, staying at Futenma is not desirable. Decades of citizen complaints -- and the 2004 crash of a Marine helicopter into a nearby college campus, which miraculously killed no one -- have triggered flight restrictions that degrade the tactical utility of the Futenma base, especially in training Marines for night combat.
"These restrictions reduce the number of aircraft we can put up through a 24-hour day," said Lt. Gen. Terry G. Robling, Marine commander on this tropical island, which has a strategic perch between Taiwan and the Korean Peninsula. "It is not a showstopper, but it is a factor."
Until last year, the Futenma problem had a treaty-guaranteed solution that pleased the Marines, soothed the allies and suited Tokyo: The air station would move to a new seaside home at Camp Schwab, in the thinly populated north of the island.
Democracy scuttled the deal. In August, Japanese voters tossed out the Liberal Democratic Party, which had ruled the country for nearly 50 years and had agreed in 2006 on the relocation of the Marine base.
The winner of the election had other ideas about the future of the air station and Japan's relationship with the United States. The Democratic Party of Japan and its leader, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, campaigned on the claim that Japan had for too long been too passive in its U.S. dealings. To make the point, Hatoyama froze the base relocation plan, while suggesting that the Marines move their airfield off Okinawa and perhaps out of Japan altogether.
This delighted and energized many of Okinawa's 1.4 million people, who have long complained that they bear a disproportionate burden of their country's security alliance. Most of the 36,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan are based on Okinawa, and local unease over their presence has grown rapidly since 1996, when two Marines and a sailor raped a 12-year-old girl.
"With the new leadership in Tokyo, we have moved away from a relationship where the United States gives an order and Japan says, 'Yes,' " said Yoichi Ida, the mayor of Ginowan and an outspoken advocate of moving the air station out of this city and off the island. "If the Americans try to force their will upon us, obviously Japan-U.S. ties will not go very smoothly."
On Sunday, in a mayoral election in Nago, a northern city of 65,000 people that includes Camp Schwab, an anti-base challenger is running against an incumbent who supports the relocation plan. The outcome of the election is being closely watched in Tokyo and might influence a final decision on the future of the base, which Hatoyama promised last week would be made by May.
The Obama administration's position on the base issue has moderated substantially in the past three months. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned in November of serious consequences if Japan did not honor its 2006 promise. But this month, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton voiced patient understanding, saying, "We are respectful of the process that the Japanese government is going through."
Still, the White House is continuing to press for the existing relocation plan. "An alliance requires sacrifices on both sides, and it is going to make some people unhappy," a senior administration official said.
When the United States completed its 8,000-foot runway at Futenma air station, there were no problems with complaining neighbors. It was 1947, and the base was surrounded by farmland.
But amid the rubble of Okinawa, where a ferocious World War II battle between U.S. and Japanese forces had razed much of island, the base created jobs, attracted businesses and sowed seeds for what would become a thriving city.
Futenma No. 2 Elementary School moved next to the airfield to be near the working families that encircled the base, said Chinen, the principal.
Marine officials say encroachment on the airfield is simply not their fault. "Why aren't you asking why the Japanese didn't have better zoning laws?" said Robling, the Marine commander. "They built a school right under the runway. What were they thinking?"
Japanese aviation law requires "clear zones" around civilian airports, but the rules do not apply to U.S. military bases. Neither Japanese nor U.S. authorities stopped local people from building beside the base.
Whatever the reason for encroachment, Robling and other U.S. officials acknowledge that it has long since made Futenma a poor site for a military airfield.
But if helicopters end up having no place else to go on Okinawa, Robling said, the Marine mission in Japan and East Asia would be dangerously compromised.
If helicopters were based on Guam or main islands of Japan, he said, "it would be like infielders training on the West Coast and outfielders training on the East Coast. On game day, everyone shows up and is somehow expected to play together."
Marine training issues, though, do not get much sympathy at Futenma No. 2 Elementary, where teachers are instructed to remain silent and not shout over the roar of passing aircraft.
"My personal wish is for the air base to move outside of Okinawa," Chinen said. "But who would raise his hand to take it? No one."
Special correspondent Akiko Yamamoto contributed to this report.
By Blaine Harden
washington post foreign service
Sunday, January 24, 2010; A13
GINOWAN, JAPAN -- The people of Okinawa and the U.S. Marine Corps agree on at least one thing: The Futenma Marine air station is a noisy dinosaur that needs to move elsewhere -- and soon.
Smack in the middle of this densely packed city of 92,000 and taking up about a quarter of its land, the air base torments its neighbors with the howl of combat helicopters and the shudder of C-130 transport planes.
"The noise is unbearable," said Harumi Chinen, principal of Futenma No. 2 Elementary School, where about 780 children study in buildings next to the airfield. "A school should be very comforting and safe. That is not the case here."
Where can the Marines and their earsplitting machines go? That question has triggered the most serious quarrel in the history of the traditionally harmonious U.S.-Japanese alliance, which last week marked its 50th anniversary.
The relocation question has exasperated the Obama administration and strained its dealings with a country that the United States is treaty-bound to protect in case of attack. Hanging in the balance is the future of a $26 billion deal between Japan and the United States to transfer 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam and turn over several valuable tracts of urban land to the people of the island.
Worry, too, has spread across East Asia, as officials from South Korea to Australia have expressed concern about the future of the U.S. security role in the region.
The 14,200 Marines who train with aircraft from Futenma are the only mobile U.S. ground forces based in East Asia, said Lt. Gen. Keith J. Stalder, commander of Marine forces in the Pacific. "They bring a lot of stability and security that allows the Asia Pacific region to be a relatively peaceful place," he said.
Yet even from a Marine point of view, staying at Futenma is not desirable. Decades of citizen complaints -- and the 2004 crash of a Marine helicopter into a nearby college campus, which miraculously killed no one -- have triggered flight restrictions that degrade the tactical utility of the Futenma base, especially in training Marines for night combat.
"These restrictions reduce the number of aircraft we can put up through a 24-hour day," said Lt. Gen. Terry G. Robling, Marine commander on this tropical island, which has a strategic perch between Taiwan and the Korean Peninsula. "It is not a showstopper, but it is a factor."
Until last year, the Futenma problem had a treaty-guaranteed solution that pleased the Marines, soothed the allies and suited Tokyo: The air station would move to a new seaside home at Camp Schwab, in the thinly populated north of the island.
Democracy scuttled the deal. In August, Japanese voters tossed out the Liberal Democratic Party, which had ruled the country for nearly 50 years and had agreed in 2006 on the relocation of the Marine base.
The winner of the election had other ideas about the future of the air station and Japan's relationship with the United States. The Democratic Party of Japan and its leader, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, campaigned on the claim that Japan had for too long been too passive in its U.S. dealings. To make the point, Hatoyama froze the base relocation plan, while suggesting that the Marines move their airfield off Okinawa and perhaps out of Japan altogether.
This delighted and energized many of Okinawa's 1.4 million people, who have long complained that they bear a disproportionate burden of their country's security alliance. Most of the 36,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan are based on Okinawa, and local unease over their presence has grown rapidly since 1996, when two Marines and a sailor raped a 12-year-old girl.
"With the new leadership in Tokyo, we have moved away from a relationship where the United States gives an order and Japan says, 'Yes,' " said Yoichi Ida, the mayor of Ginowan and an outspoken advocate of moving the air station out of this city and off the island. "If the Americans try to force their will upon us, obviously Japan-U.S. ties will not go very smoothly."
On Sunday, in a mayoral election in Nago, a northern city of 65,000 people that includes Camp Schwab, an anti-base challenger is running against an incumbent who supports the relocation plan. The outcome of the election is being closely watched in Tokyo and might influence a final decision on the future of the base, which Hatoyama promised last week would be made by May.
The Obama administration's position on the base issue has moderated substantially in the past three months. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned in November of serious consequences if Japan did not honor its 2006 promise. But this month, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton voiced patient understanding, saying, "We are respectful of the process that the Japanese government is going through."
Still, the White House is continuing to press for the existing relocation plan. "An alliance requires sacrifices on both sides, and it is going to make some people unhappy," a senior administration official said.
When the United States completed its 8,000-foot runway at Futenma air station, there were no problems with complaining neighbors. It was 1947, and the base was surrounded by farmland.
But amid the rubble of Okinawa, where a ferocious World War II battle between U.S. and Japanese forces had razed much of island, the base created jobs, attracted businesses and sowed seeds for what would become a thriving city.
Futenma No. 2 Elementary School moved next to the airfield to be near the working families that encircled the base, said Chinen, the principal.
Marine officials say encroachment on the airfield is simply not their fault. "Why aren't you asking why the Japanese didn't have better zoning laws?" said Robling, the Marine commander. "They built a school right under the runway. What were they thinking?"
Japanese aviation law requires "clear zones" around civilian airports, but the rules do not apply to U.S. military bases. Neither Japanese nor U.S. authorities stopped local people from building beside the base.
Whatever the reason for encroachment, Robling and other U.S. officials acknowledge that it has long since made Futenma a poor site for a military airfield.
But if helicopters end up having no place else to go on Okinawa, Robling said, the Marine mission in Japan and East Asia would be dangerously compromised.
If helicopters were based on Guam or main islands of Japan, he said, "it would be like infielders training on the West Coast and outfielders training on the East Coast. On game day, everyone shows up and is somehow expected to play together."
Marine training issues, though, do not get much sympathy at Futenma No. 2 Elementary, where teachers are instructed to remain silent and not shout over the roar of passing aircraft.
"My personal wish is for the air base to move outside of Okinawa," Chinen said. "But who would raise his hand to take it? No one."
Special correspondent Akiko Yamamoto contributed to this report.
Futenma not expected to dictate election
Futenma not expected to dictate election
By David Allen and Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, January 24, 2010
NAGO, Okinawa — People unfamiliar with this northern Okinawa city may be overstating the importance of Sunday’s mayoral election, comparing it to a referendum on moving Marine air operations to Camp Schwab.
The issue is just not that black and white, some residents and political analysts say.
More than 76 percent of the city’s 60,000 residents live on the other side of a mountain from Schwab, selected as a replacement site for Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, and they would not be affected by the noise and safety concerns opponents of the project say it would bring.
Masaaki Gabe, professor of international relations at the University of the Ryukyus, said he did not believe the election would be a clear-cut resolution to the issue.
"I don’t think Futenma weighs that heavily for voters when they choose their mayor," he said Thursday, noting that while the attention of the press and people outside the city has focused on Nago elections over the past 13 years as referendums on the base issue, voters were more focused on community economic matters.
The city has an unemployment rate of 12.5 percent, double the national average.
Still, politicians in Tokyo are watching the results closely. The defeat of the current mayor, who has reluctantly supported the plan, could strengthen the resistance of Japan’s new government to following through on the 2006 agreement that calls for building the new base and closing Futenma, located in the heart of urban Ginowan.
Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro, 63, is fighting for his political life against challenger Susumu Inamine, 64, who has made opposition to the relocation one of the key planks to his platform.
"I promise not to allow construction of a new base in the sea of Henoko," Inamine said Thursday at a rally. He is supported by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and its coalition partners.
While his opponent is focusing on the base issue, Shimabukuro is downplaying its importance.
"Futenma is clearly a national defense issue, for which the national government should be responsible," campaign spokesman Ichiro Miyagi said Thursday. "People here are tired of [outsiders] highlighting an issue that was clearly not their focus."
On that even Shimabukuro’s opponents can agree.
"It’s time to bring to an end to the Futenma issue so that people in Nago can be relieved from the long spell that painfully divided this city," said Yoshitami Oshiro, a campaign manager for Inamine and a city assembly member.
The DPJ-led government has decided to review the 2006 relocation agreement, setting May as a deadline for deciding whether to continue with the Camp Schwab plan or press for an alternate location outside Okinawa.
However, although local newspaper polls over the past decade have shown a majority of residents oppose the project, they have elected pro-relocation mayors.
The controversy has divided this city for so long that some residents interviewed by Stars and Stripes asked not to be identified.
"My biggest concern is how to revive our city," said a 44-year-old restaurant owner in downtown Nago, who asked to remain anonymous. "I don’t care one way or another about the Futenma issue. Working for the education of our children, the welfare of city residents and promotion of the local economy are what I expect of our mayor.
By David Allen and Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, January 24, 2010
NAGO, Okinawa — People unfamiliar with this northern Okinawa city may be overstating the importance of Sunday’s mayoral election, comparing it to a referendum on moving Marine air operations to Camp Schwab.
The issue is just not that black and white, some residents and political analysts say.
More than 76 percent of the city’s 60,000 residents live on the other side of a mountain from Schwab, selected as a replacement site for Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, and they would not be affected by the noise and safety concerns opponents of the project say it would bring.
Masaaki Gabe, professor of international relations at the University of the Ryukyus, said he did not believe the election would be a clear-cut resolution to the issue.
"I don’t think Futenma weighs that heavily for voters when they choose their mayor," he said Thursday, noting that while the attention of the press and people outside the city has focused on Nago elections over the past 13 years as referendums on the base issue, voters were more focused on community economic matters.
The city has an unemployment rate of 12.5 percent, double the national average.
Still, politicians in Tokyo are watching the results closely. The defeat of the current mayor, who has reluctantly supported the plan, could strengthen the resistance of Japan’s new government to following through on the 2006 agreement that calls for building the new base and closing Futenma, located in the heart of urban Ginowan.
Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro, 63, is fighting for his political life against challenger Susumu Inamine, 64, who has made opposition to the relocation one of the key planks to his platform.
"I promise not to allow construction of a new base in the sea of Henoko," Inamine said Thursday at a rally. He is supported by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and its coalition partners.
While his opponent is focusing on the base issue, Shimabukuro is downplaying its importance.
"Futenma is clearly a national defense issue, for which the national government should be responsible," campaign spokesman Ichiro Miyagi said Thursday. "People here are tired of [outsiders] highlighting an issue that was clearly not their focus."
On that even Shimabukuro’s opponents can agree.
"It’s time to bring to an end to the Futenma issue so that people in Nago can be relieved from the long spell that painfully divided this city," said Yoshitami Oshiro, a campaign manager for Inamine and a city assembly member.
The DPJ-led government has decided to review the 2006 relocation agreement, setting May as a deadline for deciding whether to continue with the Camp Schwab plan or press for an alternate location outside Okinawa.
However, although local newspaper polls over the past decade have shown a majority of residents oppose the project, they have elected pro-relocation mayors.
The controversy has divided this city for so long that some residents interviewed by Stars and Stripes asked not to be identified.
"My biggest concern is how to revive our city," said a 44-year-old restaurant owner in downtown Nago, who asked to remain anonymous. "I don’t care one way or another about the Futenma issue. Working for the education of our children, the welfare of city residents and promotion of the local economy are what I expect of our mayor.
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."
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Residents voice buildup concerns: Final Guam hearing tonight at Okkodo
Residents voice buildup concerns: Final Guam hearing tonight at Okkodo
By Brett Kelman • Pacific Daily News bmkelman@guampdn.com • January 12, 2010
The coming military buildup will bring more planes, more missions -- and more noise -- to northern Guam in the next few years.
Additional noise will fuel more frustration and create more uncomfortable nights for some concerned residents of Yigo and Dededo. Some of them attended a buildup hearing last night.
There are residents like Leodith Abinales, 21, who hated the noise at first but somehow learned to live with it. There are others like Gwendolyn Nelson Taimanglo, who lives just far enough from the runways that jet engines frighten her every time.
If that noise grows more frequent after the buildup, Taimainglo will be "stuck," she said.
The peaceful Wusstig home she has spent so much time and money on will be peaceful no longer, she said.
"An uncomfortable life," she said last night. "It would be like when we have a typhoon and the power is off and everyone's generator is on. You can withstand it for a certain period of time, but then after a while it physically and emotionally wears you out."
Last night's hearing also brought some of the most passionate objection to the buildup from protesters, landowners and a few local senators.
Although aircraft zip in and out of Andersen Air Force Base every day, Taimainglo lives too far away to hear the daily traffic overhead. The aircraft that do come close rattle her sliding glass doors and shake the furniture on the second floor.
"It freaks you out," she said.
According to the draft Environmental Impact Statement, this aircraft activity at Andersen is expected to skyrocket in the next few years. There were about 30,000 flights at Andersen in 2006 and will be more than 99,000 by 2014.
And at least some of these additional flights will happen at night, the draft EIS states.
These additional flights will also create noise in off-base areas where planes and helicopters aren't heard overhead today.
At almost 1,700 acres where aircraft make no noticeable noise today, aircraft from buildup will generate noise at least as loud as a car 100 feet away, the draft EIS states. And the area where aircraft make as much noise as a vacuum cleaner will increase by almost 730 acres.
The jets already sound like a vacuum at Abinales' house, which is barely a mile from the back gate of Andersen.
And the neighborhood dogs bark like crazy every time, she said.
The noise bothered her years ago, but she got used to it. Still, some jets are louder than others and the loudest ones can't be ignored.
"I love jets when they fly through the sky and stuff, but when you want to watch your favorite movie or read or study for school, it's just not nice," she said. "It definitely doesn't help you."
Protest
Although protesters have been present at every public hearing on the military buildup, last night they couldn't be missed. Moments before the public comments began, a group of protesters marched into the middle of the Yigo gym to sing and speak.
Danny Jackson led the group dressed only in a shell necklace and a loincloth. His grandson walked by his side, blowing a conch-shell horn called a ku'lu.
Speaker Judith Won Pat and Vice Speaker Benjamin Cruz were at the front of the group.
Jackson urged his fellow islanders to stand against the buildup in his native language.
"If we don't do it now, we will be destroyed by the federal government atrocities in our own homeland," Jackson said later, in English.
Sen. Ben Pangelinan said the federal government was purposely spreading lies about the buildup to deceive residents. The crowd erupted in applause as he spoke.
Pangelinan said the buildup is only in the best interest of mainlanders.
He said only off-island companies will benefit from the buildup's economic boost. He said expanded military installations will ruin the environment and destroy artifacts and cultural sites without the public ever knowing.
"I don't want (the military) desecrating those ancestral burial grounds. I don't want (the military) bombing and shooting the spirits of our ancestors that rest in Pagat," Pangelinan said.
By Brett Kelman • Pacific Daily News bmkelman@guampdn.com • January 12, 2010
The coming military buildup will bring more planes, more missions -- and more noise -- to northern Guam in the next few years.
Additional noise will fuel more frustration and create more uncomfortable nights for some concerned residents of Yigo and Dededo. Some of them attended a buildup hearing last night.
There are residents like Leodith Abinales, 21, who hated the noise at first but somehow learned to live with it. There are others like Gwendolyn Nelson Taimanglo, who lives just far enough from the runways that jet engines frighten her every time.
If that noise grows more frequent after the buildup, Taimainglo will be "stuck," she said.
The peaceful Wusstig home she has spent so much time and money on will be peaceful no longer, she said.
"An uncomfortable life," she said last night. "It would be like when we have a typhoon and the power is off and everyone's generator is on. You can withstand it for a certain period of time, but then after a while it physically and emotionally wears you out."
Last night's hearing also brought some of the most passionate objection to the buildup from protesters, landowners and a few local senators.
Although aircraft zip in and out of Andersen Air Force Base every day, Taimainglo lives too far away to hear the daily traffic overhead. The aircraft that do come close rattle her sliding glass doors and shake the furniture on the second floor.
"It freaks you out," she said.
According to the draft Environmental Impact Statement, this aircraft activity at Andersen is expected to skyrocket in the next few years. There were about 30,000 flights at Andersen in 2006 and will be more than 99,000 by 2014.
And at least some of these additional flights will happen at night, the draft EIS states.
These additional flights will also create noise in off-base areas where planes and helicopters aren't heard overhead today.
At almost 1,700 acres where aircraft make no noticeable noise today, aircraft from buildup will generate noise at least as loud as a car 100 feet away, the draft EIS states. And the area where aircraft make as much noise as a vacuum cleaner will increase by almost 730 acres.
The jets already sound like a vacuum at Abinales' house, which is barely a mile from the back gate of Andersen.
And the neighborhood dogs bark like crazy every time, she said.
The noise bothered her years ago, but she got used to it. Still, some jets are louder than others and the loudest ones can't be ignored.
"I love jets when they fly through the sky and stuff, but when you want to watch your favorite movie or read or study for school, it's just not nice," she said. "It definitely doesn't help you."
Protest
Although protesters have been present at every public hearing on the military buildup, last night they couldn't be missed. Moments before the public comments began, a group of protesters marched into the middle of the Yigo gym to sing and speak.
Danny Jackson led the group dressed only in a shell necklace and a loincloth. His grandson walked by his side, blowing a conch-shell horn called a ku'lu.
Speaker Judith Won Pat and Vice Speaker Benjamin Cruz were at the front of the group.
Jackson urged his fellow islanders to stand against the buildup in his native language.
"If we don't do it now, we will be destroyed by the federal government atrocities in our own homeland," Jackson said later, in English.
Sen. Ben Pangelinan said the federal government was purposely spreading lies about the buildup to deceive residents. The crowd erupted in applause as he spoke.
Pangelinan said the buildup is only in the best interest of mainlanders.
He said only off-island companies will benefit from the buildup's economic boost. He said expanded military installations will ruin the environment and destroy artifacts and cultural sites without the public ever knowing.
"I don't want (the military) desecrating those ancestral burial grounds. I don't want (the military) bombing and shooting the spirits of our ancestors that rest in Pagat," Pangelinan said.
Q+A: U.S. base feud plagues alliance with Japan
Q+A: U.S. base feud plagues alliance with Japan
Linda Sieg
TOKYO
Mon Jan 11, 2010 1:05am EST
TOKYO (Reuters) - A feud over plans to relocate a U.S. military base on Japan's Okinawa island as part of a broad reorganization of U.S. troops is fraying ties between Japan's four-month-old government and close ally Washington.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said ahead of the August election that swept his Democratic Party to power he favored moving the U.S. Marines' Futenma airbase off Okinawa island, and two tiny coalition partners insist he should make good on those remarks. He has pledged to decide on the matter by May.
Following are some questions and answers about the issue.
WHY CLOSE THE FUTENMA BASE AND REPLACE IT?
Residents of Okinawa, 1,600 km (1,000 miles) south of Tokyo and reluctant host to about half the 47,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan, have long resented what they see as an unfair burden in maintaining the U.S.-Japan security alliance.
The concentration of U.S. bases on Okinawa, a major U.S. military forward logistics base in the western Pacific, is a legacy of America's occupation of the island from 1945 to 1972.
Many locals associate the bases with crime, noise, pollution and accidents, and outrage flares periodically -- most strikingly after the 1995 rape of a schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen.
As part of a 1996 pact to reduce the U.S. military presence, the United States and Japan agreed to close Futenma Air Station, home to about 4,000 Marines and located in crowded Ginowan City, within seven years if a replacement could be found in Okinawa.
An initial plan for an offshore facility in northern Okinawa was opposed by locals and environmentalists. The current plan is for relocation to a northern site in the city of Nago to be partly built within another U.S. base and on reclaimed land.
IS THIS JUST ABOUT FUTENMA?
No. The issue is much broader. Washington and Tokyo agreed in 2006 on a "road map" to transform the decades-old alliance, the pillar of Japan's post-World War Two security policies.
Part of a U.S. effort to make its military more flexible globally, the realignment fit efforts by Japan's then-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to shed the constraints of its postwar pacifist constitution and assume a higher global security profile.
Central to the pact was a plan to reorganize U.S. troops in Japan, including a shift of about 8,000 Marines by 2014 to the U.S. territory of Guam from Okinawa. The Marines' move, however, depends on finding a replacement site for Futenma.
WHY HAS THIS DISPUTE FLARED UP NOW?
Hatoyama's Democratic Party, which took power in September, promised in the campaign leading up to its election victory that it would review the realignment pact as well as the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) governing the U.S. military in Japan. Hatoyama said moving Futenma's functions off Okinawa was best.
More broadly, the Democrats have promised to adopt a diplomatic stance less subservient to Washington, a shift from the ousted long-dominant LDP.
Anxiety is exacerbated by questions about the overall future of the five-decade-old U.S.-Japan alliance as both face the challenge of China's rising economic and military might.
CAN A CRISIS BE AVOIDED?
Maybe, but the outlines of any resolution remain murky.
Washington is unlikely to agree to substantial changes to the 2006 plan. Japan might eventually agree to the current plan as is, or with slight modifications, but that could cause a rift with two tiny parties whose backing is needed to pass laws smoothly and upset Okinawa residents. It would also cause voters to wonder why Hatoyama raised the issue in the first place.
Delaying a decision until May complicates things because an anti-base candidate could win a January 24 election for the mayor of Nago, although the risk of upsetting coalition partners could decline somewhat once key bills are enacted in parliament.
Appearing to dither or endanger the alliance could undermine Hatoyama's public support ahead of the election, which the Democrats need to win to reduce dependence on the two tiny parties and avoid creating a deadlock that would stymie policies.
Few analysts expect the dispute to spill over into trade and investment ties between the world's two biggest economies but damage to U.S.-Japan alliance could spell geopolitical uncertainty in a region home to a rising China and an unpredictable North Korea, eventually affecting investment flows.
Linda Sieg
TOKYO
Mon Jan 11, 2010 1:05am EST
TOKYO (Reuters) - A feud over plans to relocate a U.S. military base on Japan's Okinawa island as part of a broad reorganization of U.S. troops is fraying ties between Japan's four-month-old government and close ally Washington.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said ahead of the August election that swept his Democratic Party to power he favored moving the U.S. Marines' Futenma airbase off Okinawa island, and two tiny coalition partners insist he should make good on those remarks. He has pledged to decide on the matter by May.
Following are some questions and answers about the issue.
WHY CLOSE THE FUTENMA BASE AND REPLACE IT?
Residents of Okinawa, 1,600 km (1,000 miles) south of Tokyo and reluctant host to about half the 47,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan, have long resented what they see as an unfair burden in maintaining the U.S.-Japan security alliance.
The concentration of U.S. bases on Okinawa, a major U.S. military forward logistics base in the western Pacific, is a legacy of America's occupation of the island from 1945 to 1972.
Many locals associate the bases with crime, noise, pollution and accidents, and outrage flares periodically -- most strikingly after the 1995 rape of a schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen.
As part of a 1996 pact to reduce the U.S. military presence, the United States and Japan agreed to close Futenma Air Station, home to about 4,000 Marines and located in crowded Ginowan City, within seven years if a replacement could be found in Okinawa.
An initial plan for an offshore facility in northern Okinawa was opposed by locals and environmentalists. The current plan is for relocation to a northern site in the city of Nago to be partly built within another U.S. base and on reclaimed land.
IS THIS JUST ABOUT FUTENMA?
No. The issue is much broader. Washington and Tokyo agreed in 2006 on a "road map" to transform the decades-old alliance, the pillar of Japan's post-World War Two security policies.
Part of a U.S. effort to make its military more flexible globally, the realignment fit efforts by Japan's then-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to shed the constraints of its postwar pacifist constitution and assume a higher global security profile.
Central to the pact was a plan to reorganize U.S. troops in Japan, including a shift of about 8,000 Marines by 2014 to the U.S. territory of Guam from Okinawa. The Marines' move, however, depends on finding a replacement site for Futenma.
WHY HAS THIS DISPUTE FLARED UP NOW?
Hatoyama's Democratic Party, which took power in September, promised in the campaign leading up to its election victory that it would review the realignment pact as well as the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) governing the U.S. military in Japan. Hatoyama said moving Futenma's functions off Okinawa was best.
More broadly, the Democrats have promised to adopt a diplomatic stance less subservient to Washington, a shift from the ousted long-dominant LDP.
Anxiety is exacerbated by questions about the overall future of the five-decade-old U.S.-Japan alliance as both face the challenge of China's rising economic and military might.
CAN A CRISIS BE AVOIDED?
Maybe, but the outlines of any resolution remain murky.
Washington is unlikely to agree to substantial changes to the 2006 plan. Japan might eventually agree to the current plan as is, or with slight modifications, but that could cause a rift with two tiny parties whose backing is needed to pass laws smoothly and upset Okinawa residents. It would also cause voters to wonder why Hatoyama raised the issue in the first place.
Delaying a decision until May complicates things because an anti-base candidate could win a January 24 election for the mayor of Nago, although the risk of upsetting coalition partners could decline somewhat once key bills are enacted in parliament.
Appearing to dither or endanger the alliance could undermine Hatoyama's public support ahead of the election, which the Democrats need to win to reduce dependence on the two tiny parties and avoid creating a deadlock that would stymie policies.
Few analysts expect the dispute to spill over into trade and investment ties between the world's two biggest economies but damage to U.S.-Japan alliance could spell geopolitical uncertainty in a region home to a rising China and an unpredictable North Korea, eventually affecting investment flows.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Guam residents voice concerns about military's expansion plans
Guam residents voice concerns about military's expansion plans
Story and photos by Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Monday, January 11, 2010
MANGILAO, Guam — Hundreds of people on Guam showed up at public hearings last week to question, protest or try to understand a proposed U.S. military expansion that would add more than 9,000 troops to the island.
Some shouted against the move, which could increase the island’s population of 178,000 by an estimated 19 percent in seven years. A few cried in anger and sadness, saying they feared losing more of the island’s Chamorro culture. One high school student rapped his message. A college student sang his. A handful of older residents spoke only in Chamorro.
Still others cited the military’s environmental impact statement chapter and verse. And they challenged the military on a range of concerns — crime, sexually transmitted diseases, pollution, noise, traffic, health, trash, public schools, jobs.
"This is not normal population growth," Kenneth Leon-Guerrero, of Santa Rita, said at Saturday’s hearing in the University of Guam’s field house. "This is whether-you-want-it-or-not growth."
Until mid-February, the military is collecting written and verbal comments on its impact statement, a federally required study that explains how the military plans to avoid adverse effects, or mitigate them, as it expands. Six public hearings this month — four in Guam and two on nearby Tinian — are letting people sound off.
The Guam buildup plan was announced in 2006 as part of an agreement struck between the United States and Japan to move 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam — then priced at $10.29 billion. Other parts of the buildup include an Army air defense unit and a new pier for extended berths for aircraft carriers.
More recently, a newly elected Japanese government has balked at the plan because it relocates, rather than removes, a Marine air station on Okinawa. U.S. military officials, however, say they believe the move will go forward as planned.
Between the 2006 announcement and now, local Guam officials and residents heard few details about the plan. Just before Thanksgiving, the military issued the environmental impact statement, giving residents an in-depth look at what the military has in mind — nearly 80,000 extra people, for a time, on the 212-square-mile island.
“It has spurred considerable concern in the community,” said Guam Senator B. J. Cruz, who is considering reviving an effort to call for a public referendum on the buildup.
David Bice, a retired Marine general charged with shepherding the project, said the military wants the public unified behind the project.
“We want a one-Guam approach,” he said.
Deciding whether to embrace the project or reject it can be hard for some Guamanians.
Since 1993, Elizabeth and Richard Reed have lived next to the Navy’s 8,800-acre munitions storage base in the southern part of the island. More recently, they’ve seen the military surveying the area, and they feared the Navy was going to build a fence that would block the Reeds’ view.
Before Thursday’s hearing at Southern High School in Santa Rita, a Navy representative said no fence was planned. Elizabeth Reed, a local teacher, was relieved.
Reed said she has conflicting views about the buildup. Her husband is an architect, and the project could be a boon. But she also worries about the natural resources and added traffic on the island.
“I don’t dislike the military,” Reed said Thursday evening. “It’s just that it’s a small island.”
Some at the week’s hearings encouraged the crowds to welcome the buildup, as long as the military respects the island and its people.
Vicente Gumataotao, mayor of Piti, which includes Apra Harbor, was a boy during World War II when first the Japanese and then the Americans took over the island.
“If you lived through my life, you would be glad to see the Marines here,” he said.
But many didn’t buy the message.
“Guam is not a strategic location,” said Melvin WonPat-Borja, another local teacher and son of one of the Guam legislators critical of the plan. “Guam is the people.”
WonPat-Borja, his sisters, their friends and others organized We Are Guahan (Guam), a group protesting the buildup. At the hearings Thursday and Saturday, the group submitted many comments and posted protest signs outside and inside the hearing venues, including one that said: “8,000? How will it change our lives?”
Col. Robert Loynd is one of two Marines on Guam who currently make up Marine Forces Pacific (Forward) Guam, the unit proposed to grow to 8,600 Marines.
Many of the Marines would work in headquarters units and leadership roles, but all the Marines would need constant training in air movements, shore landings, small-arms firing and battalion-level maneuvering. An air station and more small-arms ranges are planned for Guam, while landing and mechanized maneuvering practice would be on nearby Tinian.
“This will not be a garrison force,” Loynd said later. “It will be a ready-to-go force.”
Carl Peterson has lived on Guam for 44 years and used to be a Russian linguist for the Navy. He spoke Saturday, saying the island needs the military for its industry and jobs.
“We need the money,” Peterson said of the island that relies mainly on tourism and has no major exports. “We can mitigate the challenges. We just need to find solutions to the problems.”
Christopher Salas, 16, is a junior at Southern, and he was interested to hear about some of those jobs.
The project is expected to create 43,000 jobs at its peak, with 7,000 long-term positions. About a quarter of all the jobs created would go to local residents, with the balance going to immigrant workers and other U.S. residents. As of September, 9.3 percent of people in Guam were out of work, just below the 9.8 percent average for unemployment nationally during the same month.
Salas said he’s worried about the Marines and about too many people coming to Guam to work and then staying. He fears locals would lose even more of their Chamorro heritage. And he said he’s troubled about rumors that Okinawans were kicking out the Marines because they committed too many crimes.
“I don’t want them coming here and disrespecting us,” said Salas, whose T-shirt read Guahan Soldier for Life. “I want to know the real reason the people in Okinawa want the Marines out.”
Bice said Friday he was pleased with the hearings so far.
He said public concerns already have affected plans. A firing range planned for the eastern side of the island would have hurt tourism and fishing, so the military now proposes putting the ranges elsewhere.
Dan Jackson lives near that proposed area on the eastern shores. He opened Saturday’s hearing by blowing a conch to announce the gathering. Then, in Chamorro, he encouraged the group to ban together against the buildup.
“This kind of strategy can be stronger than a typhoon,” Jackson said later in English.
Comments can be submitted at www.guambuildupeis.us until Feb. 18, 3:30 p.m. Guam time.
Story and photos by Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Monday, January 11, 2010
MANGILAO, Guam — Hundreds of people on Guam showed up at public hearings last week to question, protest or try to understand a proposed U.S. military expansion that would add more than 9,000 troops to the island.
Some shouted against the move, which could increase the island’s population of 178,000 by an estimated 19 percent in seven years. A few cried in anger and sadness, saying they feared losing more of the island’s Chamorro culture. One high school student rapped his message. A college student sang his. A handful of older residents spoke only in Chamorro.
Still others cited the military’s environmental impact statement chapter and verse. And they challenged the military on a range of concerns — crime, sexually transmitted diseases, pollution, noise, traffic, health, trash, public schools, jobs.
"This is not normal population growth," Kenneth Leon-Guerrero, of Santa Rita, said at Saturday’s hearing in the University of Guam’s field house. "This is whether-you-want-it-or-not growth."
Until mid-February, the military is collecting written and verbal comments on its impact statement, a federally required study that explains how the military plans to avoid adverse effects, or mitigate them, as it expands. Six public hearings this month — four in Guam and two on nearby Tinian — are letting people sound off.
The Guam buildup plan was announced in 2006 as part of an agreement struck between the United States and Japan to move 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam — then priced at $10.29 billion. Other parts of the buildup include an Army air defense unit and a new pier for extended berths for aircraft carriers.
More recently, a newly elected Japanese government has balked at the plan because it relocates, rather than removes, a Marine air station on Okinawa. U.S. military officials, however, say they believe the move will go forward as planned.
Between the 2006 announcement and now, local Guam officials and residents heard few details about the plan. Just before Thanksgiving, the military issued the environmental impact statement, giving residents an in-depth look at what the military has in mind — nearly 80,000 extra people, for a time, on the 212-square-mile island.
“It has spurred considerable concern in the community,” said Guam Senator B. J. Cruz, who is considering reviving an effort to call for a public referendum on the buildup.
David Bice, a retired Marine general charged with shepherding the project, said the military wants the public unified behind the project.
“We want a one-Guam approach,” he said.
Deciding whether to embrace the project or reject it can be hard for some Guamanians.
Since 1993, Elizabeth and Richard Reed have lived next to the Navy’s 8,800-acre munitions storage base in the southern part of the island. More recently, they’ve seen the military surveying the area, and they feared the Navy was going to build a fence that would block the Reeds’ view.
Before Thursday’s hearing at Southern High School in Santa Rita, a Navy representative said no fence was planned. Elizabeth Reed, a local teacher, was relieved.
Reed said she has conflicting views about the buildup. Her husband is an architect, and the project could be a boon. But she also worries about the natural resources and added traffic on the island.
“I don’t dislike the military,” Reed said Thursday evening. “It’s just that it’s a small island.”
Some at the week’s hearings encouraged the crowds to welcome the buildup, as long as the military respects the island and its people.
Vicente Gumataotao, mayor of Piti, which includes Apra Harbor, was a boy during World War II when first the Japanese and then the Americans took over the island.
“If you lived through my life, you would be glad to see the Marines here,” he said.
But many didn’t buy the message.
“Guam is not a strategic location,” said Melvin WonPat-Borja, another local teacher and son of one of the Guam legislators critical of the plan. “Guam is the people.”
WonPat-Borja, his sisters, their friends and others organized We Are Guahan (Guam), a group protesting the buildup. At the hearings Thursday and Saturday, the group submitted many comments and posted protest signs outside and inside the hearing venues, including one that said: “8,000? How will it change our lives?”
Col. Robert Loynd is one of two Marines on Guam who currently make up Marine Forces Pacific (Forward) Guam, the unit proposed to grow to 8,600 Marines.
Many of the Marines would work in headquarters units and leadership roles, but all the Marines would need constant training in air movements, shore landings, small-arms firing and battalion-level maneuvering. An air station and more small-arms ranges are planned for Guam, while landing and mechanized maneuvering practice would be on nearby Tinian.
“This will not be a garrison force,” Loynd said later. “It will be a ready-to-go force.”
Carl Peterson has lived on Guam for 44 years and used to be a Russian linguist for the Navy. He spoke Saturday, saying the island needs the military for its industry and jobs.
“We need the money,” Peterson said of the island that relies mainly on tourism and has no major exports. “We can mitigate the challenges. We just need to find solutions to the problems.”
Christopher Salas, 16, is a junior at Southern, and he was interested to hear about some of those jobs.
The project is expected to create 43,000 jobs at its peak, with 7,000 long-term positions. About a quarter of all the jobs created would go to local residents, with the balance going to immigrant workers and other U.S. residents. As of September, 9.3 percent of people in Guam were out of work, just below the 9.8 percent average for unemployment nationally during the same month.
Salas said he’s worried about the Marines and about too many people coming to Guam to work and then staying. He fears locals would lose even more of their Chamorro heritage. And he said he’s troubled about rumors that Okinawans were kicking out the Marines because they committed too many crimes.
“I don’t want them coming here and disrespecting us,” said Salas, whose T-shirt read Guahan Soldier for Life. “I want to know the real reason the people in Okinawa want the Marines out.”
Bice said Friday he was pleased with the hearings so far.
He said public concerns already have affected plans. A firing range planned for the eastern side of the island would have hurt tourism and fishing, so the military now proposes putting the ranges elsewhere.
Dan Jackson lives near that proposed area on the eastern shores. He opened Saturday’s hearing by blowing a conch to announce the gathering. Then, in Chamorro, he encouraged the group to ban together against the buildup.
“This kind of strategy can be stronger than a typhoon,” Jackson said later in English.
Comments can be submitted at www.guambuildupeis.us until Feb. 18, 3:30 p.m. Guam time.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Policy chief pitches alternative Futenma plan
Policy chief pitches alternative Futenma plan
By Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, January 7, 2010
NAHA, Okinawa — Transferring 23 F-15 fighter jets from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, to Misawa Air Base in mainland Japan would free up room for operations at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to be moved to Kadena, according to a proposal pitched Tuesday by the policy chief of one of the two junior partners of Japan’s coalition government.
Mikio Shimoji, a New People’s Party representative and a senior member of a subcommittee set up to find a settlement on the relocation issue, said his party’s plan included moving training normally conducted at Kadena to mainland Japan.
Sending the visiting aircraft to train at Kansai Airport in Osaka, as well as using Ie-Shima island and the Higashi Fuji training ground for Marine helicopter exercises, will greatly reduce the noise that is a frequent complaint of Okinawans, Shimoji told reporters at his campaign office.
On Camp Schwab, meanwhile, helipads would be built instead of runways, Shimoji said.
“Additionally,” he said, “if the United States wishes, Futenma air station can remain under U.S. military control for contingency purposes,” which would allow the Okinawan landowners to continue to receive rent from the U.S. military.
The subcommittee, set up by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama last month after he set a deadline of May to reach a formal agreement with the U.S. on Futenma, will forward its plan to Hatoyama “by the end of January,” Shimoji said.
The subcommittee still has some work to do. Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the other junior coalition partner, insists on moving the operations outside Okinawa, possibly to Guam.
Hatoyama said last month after the delay announcement that he would seek a solution that would be acceptable for both Okinawa residents and the United States. Meanwhile, the United States maintains its stance that the present plan to move Futenma operations to Camp Schwab as agreed in 2006 is the only viable option.
“If Kansai Airport and Higashi Fuji become available for the military to use as training sites, it would be an added value for the military,” Shimoji said.
Relocating the Futenma operations within Okinawa is the most realistic and feasible solution, he stressed.
“This is a now-or-never chance for Okinawa to remarkably reduce the presence of the military on the island,” he said.
By Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, January 7, 2010
NAHA, Okinawa — Transferring 23 F-15 fighter jets from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, to Misawa Air Base in mainland Japan would free up room for operations at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to be moved to Kadena, according to a proposal pitched Tuesday by the policy chief of one of the two junior partners of Japan’s coalition government.
Mikio Shimoji, a New People’s Party representative and a senior member of a subcommittee set up to find a settlement on the relocation issue, said his party’s plan included moving training normally conducted at Kadena to mainland Japan.
Sending the visiting aircraft to train at Kansai Airport in Osaka, as well as using Ie-Shima island and the Higashi Fuji training ground for Marine helicopter exercises, will greatly reduce the noise that is a frequent complaint of Okinawans, Shimoji told reporters at his campaign office.
On Camp Schwab, meanwhile, helipads would be built instead of runways, Shimoji said.
“Additionally,” he said, “if the United States wishes, Futenma air station can remain under U.S. military control for contingency purposes,” which would allow the Okinawan landowners to continue to receive rent from the U.S. military.
The subcommittee, set up by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama last month after he set a deadline of May to reach a formal agreement with the U.S. on Futenma, will forward its plan to Hatoyama “by the end of January,” Shimoji said.
The subcommittee still has some work to do. Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the other junior coalition partner, insists on moving the operations outside Okinawa, possibly to Guam.
Hatoyama said last month after the delay announcement that he would seek a solution that would be acceptable for both Okinawa residents and the United States. Meanwhile, the United States maintains its stance that the present plan to move Futenma operations to Camp Schwab as agreed in 2006 is the only viable option.
“If Kansai Airport and Higashi Fuji become available for the military to use as training sites, it would be an added value for the military,” Shimoji said.
Relocating the Futenma operations within Okinawa is the most realistic and feasible solution, he stressed.
“This is a now-or-never chance for Okinawa to remarkably reduce the presence of the military on the island,” he said.
Sunday, January 03, 2010
EIS hearing Thursday at Santa Rita
EIS hearing Thursday at Santa Rita
By Laura Matthews • Pacific Daily News • January 4, 2010
Southern residents will get the first chance to provide feedback on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement with public hearings starting this week.
The first round of hearings on the draft EIS begins 7 p.m. Thursday at Southern High School in Santa Rita, and Agat Mayor Carol Tayama is encouraging people in the south to come out and express their views.
The mayor said she has been receiving e-mails from residents in her village informing her of their concerns, and she wants them to know that this is the venue where they can act.
"They have to come out and voice their concerns," Tayama said. "This is the time now if they want to see any changes. I really encourage residents in the south that if they have any concerns, that this is the time to bring them up."
The draft Environmental Impact Statement will provide a detailed account of how Guam's community will be affected through changes caused by the buildup. These include access to recreation locations, safety, labor-related issues, population increase and associated effects, increases in traffic, utility requirements, noise, land use, educational facilities, public health and social services and impact to tourism.
Concerns
Tayama said she plans to attend the public hearing to listen and make her concerns known.
Other residents are planning to do the same.
Cerila P. Skvaril, a 52-year-old living in Nimitz Hill, said she plans to attend at least one of the hearings on the environmental impact report because she has five children who are likely to be affected by the decisions that will be made with the military buildup.
Skvaril is concerned about the environmental impact of the military buildup on the island, and the fact that local land could be taken by the federal government.
"It is devastating to know the United States government has so much resources and the little resources we have they want to destroy it," Skvaril said.
She said residents who will not attend the hearing should remember that in the end "they will pay for it and their children will pay the price."
Nevertheless, there are some who won't be sharing their point of views at the upcoming hearings.
"I will not attend because I don't have the time. I am always working," said Jhune Cortes, 39, from Astumbo. "But I think people should say whether they want the buildup or not, and I think the buildup is going to be better for the economy."
By Laura Matthews • Pacific Daily News • January 4, 2010
Southern residents will get the first chance to provide feedback on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement with public hearings starting this week.
The first round of hearings on the draft EIS begins 7 p.m. Thursday at Southern High School in Santa Rita, and Agat Mayor Carol Tayama is encouraging people in the south to come out and express their views.
The mayor said she has been receiving e-mails from residents in her village informing her of their concerns, and she wants them to know that this is the venue where they can act.
"They have to come out and voice their concerns," Tayama said. "This is the time now if they want to see any changes. I really encourage residents in the south that if they have any concerns, that this is the time to bring them up."
The draft Environmental Impact Statement will provide a detailed account of how Guam's community will be affected through changes caused by the buildup. These include access to recreation locations, safety, labor-related issues, population increase and associated effects, increases in traffic, utility requirements, noise, land use, educational facilities, public health and social services and impact to tourism.
Concerns
Tayama said she plans to attend the public hearing to listen and make her concerns known.
Other residents are planning to do the same.
Cerila P. Skvaril, a 52-year-old living in Nimitz Hill, said she plans to attend at least one of the hearings on the environmental impact report because she has five children who are likely to be affected by the decisions that will be made with the military buildup.
Skvaril is concerned about the environmental impact of the military buildup on the island, and the fact that local land could be taken by the federal government.
"It is devastating to know the United States government has so much resources and the little resources we have they want to destroy it," Skvaril said.
She said residents who will not attend the hearing should remember that in the end "they will pay for it and their children will pay the price."
Nevertheless, there are some who won't be sharing their point of views at the upcoming hearings.
"I will not attend because I don't have the time. I am always working," said Jhune Cortes, 39, from Astumbo. "But I think people should say whether they want the buildup or not, and I think the buildup is going to be better for the economy."
Loosening ties
Loosening ties
Thursday, 31 December 2009 18:17
by Eric Talmadge | Associated Press
Standoff over US base closure sours US-Japan ties
GINOWAN, Japan (AP) – When the U.S. took over a Japanese airfield here in the closing days of World War II, it was surrounded by sugarcane fields and the smoldering battlegrounds of Okinawa. It is now the focus of a deepening dispute that is testing Japan's security alliance with the United States and dividing its new government in Tokyo.
A large city has grown up around the base, and helicopters and cargo planes from the U.S. Marine Corps facility buzz so low over Futenma No. 2 Elementary School, whose playground fence borders the facility, that the windows rattle and teachers stop class until the aircraft are on the ground.
"It's just too much," said the school's vice principal, Muneo Nakamura. "I understand the political role the U.S. bases in Japan play. But we have to live here."
That Marine Corps Air Station Futenma must go is not the dispute. U.S. military officials agree the base must be moved. The problem is where.
The United States says that Futenma cannot be shut down until a replacement is elsewhere on Okinawa, an idea that most Okinawans oppose.
They have the ear of a new left-leaning Japanese government that took office in September and is reassessing the U.S.-Japan alliance.
The standoff has clouded relations between Tokyo and Washington, delayed a plan to restructure America's military presence in Asia and divided Japan's political leadership. It comes as China's rising military strength and North Korea's nuclear program are changing the security landscape in Asia, underscoring the importance for the U.S. and Japan of keeping the issue from creating a major rift.
The Futenma facility, home to about 2,000 Marines and one of the Marines' largest facilities in the Pacific, is surrounded by urban sprawl.
"This base violates so many regulations and safety rules that it would be illegal to operate it in the United States," Yoichi Iha, the mayor of Ginowan, told The Associated Press. "The situation has just been left to fester for too long, and no one has been willing to accept responsibility to do anything."
He also accused the Marines of regularly ignoring agreements on when and where they can fly. The city is installing a 2 billion yen ($20 million) radar system next year to keep tabs on them. A Japanese court ruled last year the noise levels are unacceptable, and ordered the Japanese government to compensate residents. An appeal is ongoing.
Progress on the Futenma issue has generally only occurred after major incidents have sent Okinawans into the streets in protest.
That "strategic roadmap" included moving the facility farther north to a less crowded area and reducing the U.S. presence in Okinawa by transferring 8,000 Marines from Futenma and other bases to Guam.
But the decision to replace the Futenma base with another on the outskirts of Nago, another Okinawan city, sparked intense protests.
The new base would likely require bulldozing beaches near an existing Marine facility, Camp Schwab.
"We are not going to let them destroy our ocean to build another military base," said Hiroshi Aratomi, the co-leader of a group that has held a daily sit-in for the past five years. "We will be glad to see Futenma go, but not at the price of simply substituting it with another base in our backyard."
Thursday, 31 December 2009 18:17
by Eric Talmadge | Associated Press
Standoff over US base closure sours US-Japan ties
GINOWAN, Japan (AP) – When the U.S. took over a Japanese airfield here in the closing days of World War II, it was surrounded by sugarcane fields and the smoldering battlegrounds of Okinawa. It is now the focus of a deepening dispute that is testing Japan's security alliance with the United States and dividing its new government in Tokyo.
A large city has grown up around the base, and helicopters and cargo planes from the U.S. Marine Corps facility buzz so low over Futenma No. 2 Elementary School, whose playground fence borders the facility, that the windows rattle and teachers stop class until the aircraft are on the ground.
"It's just too much," said the school's vice principal, Muneo Nakamura. "I understand the political role the U.S. bases in Japan play. But we have to live here."
That Marine Corps Air Station Futenma must go is not the dispute. U.S. military officials agree the base must be moved. The problem is where.
The United States says that Futenma cannot be shut down until a replacement is elsewhere on Okinawa, an idea that most Okinawans oppose.
They have the ear of a new left-leaning Japanese government that took office in September and is reassessing the U.S.-Japan alliance.
The standoff has clouded relations between Tokyo and Washington, delayed a plan to restructure America's military presence in Asia and divided Japan's political leadership. It comes as China's rising military strength and North Korea's nuclear program are changing the security landscape in Asia, underscoring the importance for the U.S. and Japan of keeping the issue from creating a major rift.
The Futenma facility, home to about 2,000 Marines and one of the Marines' largest facilities in the Pacific, is surrounded by urban sprawl.
"This base violates so many regulations and safety rules that it would be illegal to operate it in the United States," Yoichi Iha, the mayor of Ginowan, told The Associated Press. "The situation has just been left to fester for too long, and no one has been willing to accept responsibility to do anything."
He also accused the Marines of regularly ignoring agreements on when and where they can fly. The city is installing a 2 billion yen ($20 million) radar system next year to keep tabs on them. A Japanese court ruled last year the noise levels are unacceptable, and ordered the Japanese government to compensate residents. An appeal is ongoing.
Progress on the Futenma issue has generally only occurred after major incidents have sent Okinawans into the streets in protest.
That "strategic roadmap" included moving the facility farther north to a less crowded area and reducing the U.S. presence in Okinawa by transferring 8,000 Marines from Futenma and other bases to Guam.
But the decision to replace the Futenma base with another on the outskirts of Nago, another Okinawan city, sparked intense protests.
The new base would likely require bulldozing beaches near an existing Marine facility, Camp Schwab.
"We are not going to let them destroy our ocean to build another military base," said Hiroshi Aratomi, the co-leader of a group that has held a daily sit-in for the past five years. "We will be glad to see Futenma go, but not at the price of simply substituting it with another base in our backyard."
Thursday, December 24, 2009
FOCUS: Japan to see tough time with U.S. in 2010, close ties with Asia
FOCUS: Japan to see tough time with U.S. in 2010, close ties with Asia
Dec. 25, 2009
KYODO NEWS
Japan's ties with the United States are expected to be put to the test in 2010 as the country struggles to settle a row over a U.S. military airfield in Okinawa possibly as a step toward reshaping the decades-old bilateral alliance following Tokyo's historic change of power.
In contrast, the new Japanese government's pro-Asia stance, as seen in its ''East Asian community'' concept, could bring the region closer together, but experts say that a quick breakthrough is unlikely in long-standing territorial and other disputes with China and South Korea.
To raise its presence in the international arena, Japan may also explore ways to further contribute to global security, such as through active participation in U.N. peacekeeping missions.
After taking office in September, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama made a smooth diplomatic debut, winning international acclaim for his pledge to set an ambitious greenhouse gas emissions reduction target and sharing with Asian countries his long-term view of building an East Asian community, an idea inspired by the European Union.
But it did not take much time for the relationship between Japan and its closest security ally, the United States, to appear strained due to discord over where to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station.
The relocation site was agreed on in 2006 as part of a broader accord on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, but the Democratic Party of Japan-led government has pledged to move toward reviewing the deal as part of its policy to seek what it calls more ''equal'' Japan-U.S. ties.
The United States has repeatedly pressed Japan to implement the bilateral agreement to move Futemma to a less densely populated area in Okinawa, but Hatoyama has delayed making a decision on the issue until 2010 and also said he will seek an alternative relocation site.
Indicating the deep concerns Japan has on the issue, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said in early December, ''My experience as a politician is telling me that, unless we steadily deal with this issue, we may see a situation in which both Japan and the United States seriously lose trust in each other.''
The row about the Futemma facility has also cast a shadow over planned consultations between the two countries to review the bilateral alliance, with the year 2010 marking the 50th anniversary of the revised Japan-U.S. security treaty.
Okada told a press conference in late December that he hopes to ''move on'' with the consultations while discussing the relocation issue at the same time, but admitted that it is not something he can realize ''right now.''
While Hatoyama's indecisiveness and the differences in opinion seen among Cabinet members on the Futemma issue have given the impression that the government is drifting without a clear direction, speculation is growing that Hatoyama's eyes are actually focused on the creation of new bilateral ties.
''I have had the idea of whether it is appropriate to maintain the presence of another country's military forces (in Japan),'' Hatoyama said in December in explaining a security concept calling for having U.S. forces deployed in Japan only in emergencies. But he noted that he ''must seal'' the idea now that he is prime minister.
Toshikazu Inoue, a Gakushuin University professor, said that Hatoyama's key diplomatic approaches in the last three months have a commonality in that they seek ''a departure'' from Japan's dependence on the United States seen under previous governments led by the Liberal Democratic Party.
While the Futemma issue may become a litmus test of Japan's future diplomatic course, experts and others are divided on whether Tokyo will be able to settle the issue in a way that would mark a historic step toward building a less subservient relationship with the United States.
Government officials are wary about being stuck in a dead-end situation -- either failing to find an alternative relocation site or facing the difficulty of returning to the option of implementing the existing agreement because of possible strong local opposition.
''(By dealing with Futemma and other issues,) I think the DPJ-led government will start to learn that it is impossible to fundamentally change basic national policies related to diplomacy or security,'' Inoue said.
But Yuji Suzuki, a Hosei University professor, speculates that Hatoyama will seek a conclusion to close the Futemma facility and not allow it to be relocated within Okinawa, which is already unhappy about hosting the bulk of U.S. forces in the country because of noise pollution and crimes involving U.S. military personnel.
Such an outcome would not lead to a ''break'' in bilateral ties because Japan and the United States are already ''strongly linked to each other'' in such terms as economic and people-to-people exchanges and because this is a time when the United States appears to be losing its dominant power, Suzuki added.
While ties between Japan and the United States are likely to draw attention in the first half of 2010, Suzuki said that relations with China may be highlighted later in the year such as through the November summit of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum which Japan will host.
''Japan and the United States may see their ties strain over security issues, but in the latter half they will have to make sure that they cooperate to bring in China to the regional economic framework,'' the professor specializing in Pacific politics said.
Japan is also likely to face the task of accelerating its moves toward the realization of an East Asian community by finding specific areas of cooperation such as anti-piracy and copyrights.
''If cooperation were to be thoroughly focused on single issues, it may be difficult for China to say 'No', because it may also serve its interests,'' Suzuki said.
While Japan's ties with China and South Korea are likely to be relatively stable, it is unlikely to create momentum strong enough to settle its dispute with Beijing over gas field development or its territorial dispute with Seoul over the Dokdo islets, known as Takeshima in Japan.
A source close to Japan-South Korea relations warned that there is a possibility that bilateral ties could quickly sour if tension rises over the Takeshima issue, given that 2010 is a rather sensitive year for the two countries -- the 100th anniversary of Japan's annexation of the Korean Peninsula.
As for the decades-old territorial row with Russia, Hatoyama, who is known for his close ties with the country, has been eager to resolve the row. But a senior Foreign Ministry official indicated that an immediate breakthrough is not expected.
While Japan is likely to face difficulty in resolving pending bilateral issues, the government may be able to produce results in areas that involve ''multilateral cooperation'' such as climate change, peacekeeping missions, and nuclear disarmament, Inoue said.
''I think Hatoyama's pledge to cut the nation's greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent (from 1990 levels by 2020) succeeded in sending a strong message,'' he said.
''Because there is newness in Japan which has undergone a change of power, Japan could raise its presence by working on what may be called nonconventional diplomatic areas,'' he added.
The senior Foreign Ministry official indicated that more active participation by Japan in U.N. peacekeeping missions may be realized, given Okada's eagerness to do so.
But the official also indicated that the DPJ-led government has much work to do to assure people where Japan is heading, saying, ''It is a time of change. But we don't know yet where the change is heading.''
Dec. 25, 2009
KYODO NEWS
Japan's ties with the United States are expected to be put to the test in 2010 as the country struggles to settle a row over a U.S. military airfield in Okinawa possibly as a step toward reshaping the decades-old bilateral alliance following Tokyo's historic change of power.
In contrast, the new Japanese government's pro-Asia stance, as seen in its ''East Asian community'' concept, could bring the region closer together, but experts say that a quick breakthrough is unlikely in long-standing territorial and other disputes with China and South Korea.
To raise its presence in the international arena, Japan may also explore ways to further contribute to global security, such as through active participation in U.N. peacekeeping missions.
After taking office in September, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama made a smooth diplomatic debut, winning international acclaim for his pledge to set an ambitious greenhouse gas emissions reduction target and sharing with Asian countries his long-term view of building an East Asian community, an idea inspired by the European Union.
But it did not take much time for the relationship between Japan and its closest security ally, the United States, to appear strained due to discord over where to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station.
The relocation site was agreed on in 2006 as part of a broader accord on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, but the Democratic Party of Japan-led government has pledged to move toward reviewing the deal as part of its policy to seek what it calls more ''equal'' Japan-U.S. ties.
The United States has repeatedly pressed Japan to implement the bilateral agreement to move Futemma to a less densely populated area in Okinawa, but Hatoyama has delayed making a decision on the issue until 2010 and also said he will seek an alternative relocation site.
Indicating the deep concerns Japan has on the issue, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said in early December, ''My experience as a politician is telling me that, unless we steadily deal with this issue, we may see a situation in which both Japan and the United States seriously lose trust in each other.''
The row about the Futemma facility has also cast a shadow over planned consultations between the two countries to review the bilateral alliance, with the year 2010 marking the 50th anniversary of the revised Japan-U.S. security treaty.
Okada told a press conference in late December that he hopes to ''move on'' with the consultations while discussing the relocation issue at the same time, but admitted that it is not something he can realize ''right now.''
While Hatoyama's indecisiveness and the differences in opinion seen among Cabinet members on the Futemma issue have given the impression that the government is drifting without a clear direction, speculation is growing that Hatoyama's eyes are actually focused on the creation of new bilateral ties.
''I have had the idea of whether it is appropriate to maintain the presence of another country's military forces (in Japan),'' Hatoyama said in December in explaining a security concept calling for having U.S. forces deployed in Japan only in emergencies. But he noted that he ''must seal'' the idea now that he is prime minister.
Toshikazu Inoue, a Gakushuin University professor, said that Hatoyama's key diplomatic approaches in the last three months have a commonality in that they seek ''a departure'' from Japan's dependence on the United States seen under previous governments led by the Liberal Democratic Party.
While the Futemma issue may become a litmus test of Japan's future diplomatic course, experts and others are divided on whether Tokyo will be able to settle the issue in a way that would mark a historic step toward building a less subservient relationship with the United States.
Government officials are wary about being stuck in a dead-end situation -- either failing to find an alternative relocation site or facing the difficulty of returning to the option of implementing the existing agreement because of possible strong local opposition.
''(By dealing with Futemma and other issues,) I think the DPJ-led government will start to learn that it is impossible to fundamentally change basic national policies related to diplomacy or security,'' Inoue said.
But Yuji Suzuki, a Hosei University professor, speculates that Hatoyama will seek a conclusion to close the Futemma facility and not allow it to be relocated within Okinawa, which is already unhappy about hosting the bulk of U.S. forces in the country because of noise pollution and crimes involving U.S. military personnel.
Such an outcome would not lead to a ''break'' in bilateral ties because Japan and the United States are already ''strongly linked to each other'' in such terms as economic and people-to-people exchanges and because this is a time when the United States appears to be losing its dominant power, Suzuki added.
While ties between Japan and the United States are likely to draw attention in the first half of 2010, Suzuki said that relations with China may be highlighted later in the year such as through the November summit of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum which Japan will host.
''Japan and the United States may see their ties strain over security issues, but in the latter half they will have to make sure that they cooperate to bring in China to the regional economic framework,'' the professor specializing in Pacific politics said.
Japan is also likely to face the task of accelerating its moves toward the realization of an East Asian community by finding specific areas of cooperation such as anti-piracy and copyrights.
''If cooperation were to be thoroughly focused on single issues, it may be difficult for China to say 'No', because it may also serve its interests,'' Suzuki said.
While Japan's ties with China and South Korea are likely to be relatively stable, it is unlikely to create momentum strong enough to settle its dispute with Beijing over gas field development or its territorial dispute with Seoul over the Dokdo islets, known as Takeshima in Japan.
A source close to Japan-South Korea relations warned that there is a possibility that bilateral ties could quickly sour if tension rises over the Takeshima issue, given that 2010 is a rather sensitive year for the two countries -- the 100th anniversary of Japan's annexation of the Korean Peninsula.
As for the decades-old territorial row with Russia, Hatoyama, who is known for his close ties with the country, has been eager to resolve the row. But a senior Foreign Ministry official indicated that an immediate breakthrough is not expected.
While Japan is likely to face difficulty in resolving pending bilateral issues, the government may be able to produce results in areas that involve ''multilateral cooperation'' such as climate change, peacekeeping missions, and nuclear disarmament, Inoue said.
''I think Hatoyama's pledge to cut the nation's greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent (from 1990 levels by 2020) succeeded in sending a strong message,'' he said.
''Because there is newness in Japan which has undergone a change of power, Japan could raise its presence by working on what may be called nonconventional diplomatic areas,'' he added.
The senior Foreign Ministry official indicated that more active participation by Japan in U.N. peacekeeping missions may be realized, given Okada's eagerness to do so.
But the official also indicated that the DPJ-led government has much work to do to assure people where Japan is heading, saying, ''It is a time of change. But we don't know yet where the change is heading.''
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Report: Japan suspends talks on future of U.S. base on Okinawa
Report: Japan suspends talks on future of U.S. base on Okinawa
By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 7:15 AM
SEOUL -- A rift between the United States and Japan over the future of a military air station on Okinawa widened Tuesday, as Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada told Japanese media that talks on relocating the base have been suspended.
The report offers additional evidence that the newly elected government of Japan is uncomfortable with the military footprint of the United States. Most of the 36,000 U.S. forces in Japan are based on the southern island of Okinawa.
Japan may ask the United States to mitigate the military's impact on the daily life of Okinawans before reaching a conclusion on what to do about the disputed air station, chief cabinet secretary Hirofumi Hirano said Tuesday.
"The biggest priority for the Japanese side is to reduce burdens on the people of Okinawa,'' he said at a news conference.
Asked if the U.S. government could comment on the reported suspension of U.S.-Japan talks about the air base, a spokesman for the American Embassy in Tokyo said, "No."
During his visit to Tokyo last month, President Obama and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama set up a "high-level working group" to resolve the dispute about the location of the Futenma Marine air station, which is located in a densely populated part of Okinawa and has become a symbol of the noise, pollution and crime that many Japanese associate with the U.S. military presence.
But the group's meetings were inconclusive and have been suspended, with no resumption set, Okada said at a press conference, according to the Kyodo news agency.
"We are now waiting to see whether we should hold the discussions again," said Okada, who is a member of the working group, as is U.S. Ambassador John Roos.
After the group's last meeting, on Friday, U.S. officials had said that they expected there would be more negotiating sessions.
Japan and the United States agreed in 2006, as part of a $26 billion plan to move U.S. troops off and around Okinawa, that the Futenma air station would be moved to a new site on the island.
But Hatoyama, who was elected in August on a promise that he would be more assertive than previous Japanese leaders in dealing with the United States, has said he wants the air station moved off Okinawa altogether -- possibly out of the country.
In recent weeks, mixed signals from his government about the future of the air station have frustrated the Obama administration. Obama said that the working group the two created would merely "implement" the existing agreement from 2006, but Hatoyama later said that unless the working group had the power to renegotiate the agreement, its meetings were pointless.
Since then, a number of the prime minister's statements on the base issue have been confusing or contradictory. He said last week that the issue need not be decided soon, then he said perhaps the air station should move to Guam and then he said the issue should be decided soon.
His statement to reporters Tuesday -- "We've come fairly close to a saturation point,'' he said -- was especially vague, and Japanese officials continued to act in ways that could be seen as contradictory.
First, the government approved the allocation of funds to pay for commitments Japan made in its 2006 agreement with the United States over moving American bases and troops, including the relocation of the Marine air field on Okinawa and the transfer of 8,000 Marines from the island to Guam.
But later Hirano, the senior spokesman for Hatoyama, suggested that United States will have to reduce base-hosting burdens on the island before Japan can agree to sort out the air-station issue.
Japanese officials said that Hatoyama may try to meet with Obama next week at the Copenhagen climate conference to discuss the base issue.
Hatoyama is facing a possible revolt by a coalition partner whose votes he needs to pass legislation in the upper house of parliament. The leader of the Social Democratic Party, Mizuho Fukushima, said last week her party might quit the coalition if Hatoyama honors the deal to keep the air station on Okinawa.
The new prime minister is also troubled by declining popularity and an economy at risk of a double-dip recession. To avoid a return to recession, his government on Tuesday agreed to spend $81 billion in new stimulus efforts.
Hatoyama's approval ratings dipped below 60 percent in a newspaper poll released Monday, as many of those polled criticized the prime minister for indecision on the base issue.
By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 7:15 AM
SEOUL -- A rift between the United States and Japan over the future of a military air station on Okinawa widened Tuesday, as Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada told Japanese media that talks on relocating the base have been suspended.
The report offers additional evidence that the newly elected government of Japan is uncomfortable with the military footprint of the United States. Most of the 36,000 U.S. forces in Japan are based on the southern island of Okinawa.
Japan may ask the United States to mitigate the military's impact on the daily life of Okinawans before reaching a conclusion on what to do about the disputed air station, chief cabinet secretary Hirofumi Hirano said Tuesday.
"The biggest priority for the Japanese side is to reduce burdens on the people of Okinawa,'' he said at a news conference.
Asked if the U.S. government could comment on the reported suspension of U.S.-Japan talks about the air base, a spokesman for the American Embassy in Tokyo said, "No."
During his visit to Tokyo last month, President Obama and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama set up a "high-level working group" to resolve the dispute about the location of the Futenma Marine air station, which is located in a densely populated part of Okinawa and has become a symbol of the noise, pollution and crime that many Japanese associate with the U.S. military presence.
But the group's meetings were inconclusive and have been suspended, with no resumption set, Okada said at a press conference, according to the Kyodo news agency.
"We are now waiting to see whether we should hold the discussions again," said Okada, who is a member of the working group, as is U.S. Ambassador John Roos.
After the group's last meeting, on Friday, U.S. officials had said that they expected there would be more negotiating sessions.
Japan and the United States agreed in 2006, as part of a $26 billion plan to move U.S. troops off and around Okinawa, that the Futenma air station would be moved to a new site on the island.
But Hatoyama, who was elected in August on a promise that he would be more assertive than previous Japanese leaders in dealing with the United States, has said he wants the air station moved off Okinawa altogether -- possibly out of the country.
In recent weeks, mixed signals from his government about the future of the air station have frustrated the Obama administration. Obama said that the working group the two created would merely "implement" the existing agreement from 2006, but Hatoyama later said that unless the working group had the power to renegotiate the agreement, its meetings were pointless.
Since then, a number of the prime minister's statements on the base issue have been confusing or contradictory. He said last week that the issue need not be decided soon, then he said perhaps the air station should move to Guam and then he said the issue should be decided soon.
His statement to reporters Tuesday -- "We've come fairly close to a saturation point,'' he said -- was especially vague, and Japanese officials continued to act in ways that could be seen as contradictory.
First, the government approved the allocation of funds to pay for commitments Japan made in its 2006 agreement with the United States over moving American bases and troops, including the relocation of the Marine air field on Okinawa and the transfer of 8,000 Marines from the island to Guam.
But later Hirano, the senior spokesman for Hatoyama, suggested that United States will have to reduce base-hosting burdens on the island before Japan can agree to sort out the air-station issue.
Japanese officials said that Hatoyama may try to meet with Obama next week at the Copenhagen climate conference to discuss the base issue.
Hatoyama is facing a possible revolt by a coalition partner whose votes he needs to pass legislation in the upper house of parliament. The leader of the Social Democratic Party, Mizuho Fukushima, said last week her party might quit the coalition if Hatoyama honors the deal to keep the air station on Okinawa.
The new prime minister is also troubled by declining popularity and an economy at risk of a double-dip recession. To avoid a return to recession, his government on Tuesday agreed to spend $81 billion in new stimulus efforts.
Hatoyama's approval ratings dipped below 60 percent in a newspaper poll released Monday, as many of those polled criticized the prime minister for indecision on the base issue.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)