 Japan's attitude to the U.S. called into question: U.S. helicopter crash Following the U.S. Marines helicopter crash at a university campus in Ginowan City, Okinawa, the public is deeply concerned about what the Japanese government will do to deal with the accident. Will it take a resolute attitude to fulfill its responsibility to defend citizens' lives, their safety, and Japan's sovereignty, or continue its subservience to the United States? Government has taken no measures Ginowan City Mayor Iha Yoichi and Okinawa Governor Inamine Keiichi were in Tokyo and requested a meeting with Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro to make representations to the government. Koizumi declined to receive them on the grounds that he was on "summer vacation". The government has done practically nothing to deal with the accident. By sealing off the crash site and barring Okinawan police from conducting an on-site investigation, the U.S. forces doubly violated Japan's sovereignty. However, the Japanese government supported the U.S. stance instead of criticizing it. While the Ginowan City and Okinawa Prefectural governments are strongly urging the U.S. Marines Futenma base to suspend all flight activities, the Koizumi government tacitly approved the resumption of flight drills. It only expressed "regret" when the U.S. forces resumed flights of CH-53D helicopters, the same kind as the one that crashed, asking the U.S. forces to take "full-scale security measures" with their flights. The government cited the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) guaranteeing the U.S. forces "extraterritorial" privilege as the reason for its tolerance to the U.S. forces. It refers to Article 23 of the SOFA as the grounds for the U.S. forces to seal off the scene of the accident and remove the wreckage of the crashed helicopter. But the government disregards Article 23 stating, "Japan and the United States will cooperate in taking such steps as may from time to time be necessary to ensure the security of the United States armed forces, the members thereof, the civilian component, their dependents, and their property." Since Japan-U.S. cooperation is stated as a necessary condition, Japan can refuse unilateral actions of U.S. forces such as closing the accident scene and prohibiting Japanese police from entering the area. The reason the government gave for the U.S. forces' rejection of an on-site investigation by local police was that Japan and the U.S. has certain agreements regarding section 10 of SOFA Article 17. However, the section states that the U.S. military police outside of U.S. military facilities "shall be employed only subject to arrangements with the authorities of Japan and in liaison with those authorities, and in so far as such employment is necessary to maintain discipline and order among the members of the United States armed forces." The agreement only allows the U.S. military police to deal with situations outside of bases such as fights between U.S. military personnel or drunken military members causing trouble. The SOFA cannot be used to justify the U.S. forces' rejection of local police investigation of the scene of a major accident endangering citizens' lives and safety. (end) |