Work resumes on replacement site for U.S. base in Okinawa 2016/12/27
Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga
speaks to reporters after meeting with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide
Suga in Tokyo on Tuesday. | KYODO
The Japan Times Dec 27, 2016
AHA, OKINAWA PREF. – The central
government on Tuesday resumed construction work suspended since March at
the replacement site in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, for the U.S. Futenma
base.
The move came a day after Gov. Takeshi Onaga rescinded an action
aimed at blocking the work following his recent defeat at the Supreme
Court over the relocation plan.
Tensions remained high between Tokyo and Okinawa, with Onaga calling
for consultations with the central government prior to the resumption of
the relocation work and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga
rejecting the idea.
“We have no choice but to take a hard-line approach,” Onaga was
quoted as telling Suga when they met Tuesday in Tokyo. Suga said he told
Onaga the central government will proceed with the land reclamation
work necessary to transfer Futenma from a crowded residential area of
Ginowan to the less populated Henoko coastal area in Nago.
“I told the governor that our country is ruled by law and the
(central) government will comply with the finalized court ruling,” Suga
said at a regularly scheduled news conference after his meeting with
Onaga.
Onaga’s predecessor, Hirokazu Nakaima, in 2013 approved the central
government’s request for landfill work in Nago. But Onaga, who was
elected in 2014 on a pledge to oppose the relocation of Futenma within
Okinawa, revoked the approval in October 2015.
After decades of hosting the bulk of U.S. military facilities in
Japan, many people in Okinawa want Futenma’s functions moved outside the
prefecture. They are frustrated with noise, crime and accidents linked
to the U.S. bases, and safety concerns were renewed in the wake of a
Dec. 13 crash landing of a U.S. Marines Osprey aircraft off Nago.
The central government has maintained that the relocation plan,
crafted under an accord with the United States, is “the only solution”
for removing the dangers posed by Futenma, which is located close to
schools and homes, without undermining the perceived deterrence provided
by the Japan-U.S. alliance.
A legal fight between the central government and Okinawa began
following Onaga’s revocation and it ended last week with the Supreme
Court ruling against his position.
The governor took steps to rescind his revocation Monday, which
formally became effective Tuesday. But the standoff over the relocation
plan is likely to drag on, with Onaga vowing to do everything he can to
thwart the project through other means.
About 250 people held a protest near the construction site in Henoko.
“If we remain silent, it means we are accepting the plan,”
63-year-old Okinawa resident Tsugiyoshi Inafuku said as he joined the
protest. “We will continue to voice our anger.”
NAHA,
(Kyodo) -- The Japanese government resumed construction work Tuesday at
the planned relocation site for a key U.S. air base in Okinawa
Prefecture after suspending the work in March, as Gov. Takeshi Onaga
vowed to continue his fight to stop the plan.
The resumption came
after Onaga rescinded Monday his previous action aimed at blocking the
relocation work, following his recent defeat in a lawsuit filed by the
central government over the plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Air
Station Futenma within the island prefecture.
But tension remains
between Tokyo and Okinawa. Onaga's call for consultation prior to the
resumption of the work was rejected by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide
Suga when they met in Tokyo on Tuesday morning.
Onaga told
reporters later in the day that the anger and grief of the people of
Okinawa over the issue are "huge," criticizing the central government
for restarting the work without holding the consultation he had
requested.
"I will continue to do my utmost to prevent the
construction of a new base in Henoko (in the city of Nago)," Onaga said,
referring to the name of the coastal area where the Futenma base, now
situated in a crowded residential area of Ginowan, is planned to be
relocated.
After decades of hosting the bulk of U.S. military
facilities in Japan, many people in Okinawa are frustrated with noise,
crime and accidents linked to the U.S. bases and want the Futenma base
to be relocated outside the prefecture. Safety concerns were recently
reignited by the crash landing of a U.S. Marines Osprey tilt-rotor
aircraft off Nago on Dec. 13.
The Okinawa government is also
concerned about potential environmental damage. The sea off Henoko,
where a V-shaped runway will be constructed through land reclamation to
accommodate an air base, has coral reefs and is a habitat of the
endangered dugong.
The central government has maintained that the
current relocation plan, crafted under an accord with the United
States, is "the only solution" for removing the dangers posed by the
Futenma base which is situated close to schools and homes, without
undermining the perceived deterrence provided by the Japan-U.S.
alliance.
Onaga's predecessor, Hirokazu Nakaima, in 2013 approved
the central government's request for landfill work in Nago. But Onaga,
who was elected in 2014 on a pledge to oppose the relocation plan,
revoked the approval in October 2015.
A legal fight between the
central and local governments began following Onaga's revocation and it
ended last week with the Supreme Court ruling against the governor's
position.
Although Onaga rescinded his revocation, he may resort
to other means to hamper the project, such as by refusing to give
permission for moving coral reefs in the land reclamation area.
Suga,
the top government spokesman, said at a press conference that he told
Onaga during their talks Tuesday that the central government will
proceed with the landfill work in line with the finalized court ruling,
saying that Japan is "a country ruled by law."
About 250 people gathered near the construction site in Henoko to protest against the relocation.
"If
we remain silent, it means we are accepting the plan. We will continue
to voice our anger," Okinawa resident Tsugiyoshi Inafuku, 63, said as he
joined the protest activities.
