okinawa

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Japan and U.S. agree on U.S. base relocation

The Japanese and U.S. governments on October 26 reached agreement to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Okinawa's Ginowan City to the southern coast of U.S. Camp Schwab in Nago City in Okinawa.

Defense Agency Director General Ono Yoshihiro and Foreign Minister Machimura Nobutaka met with U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Richard Lawless in Tokyo and agreed on constructing a facility with a 1,800-meter runway at Oura Bay. The airfield will cover the area of Camp Schwab barracks.

The Japanese and U.S. governments had a plan to construct a new base in the sea off the Henoko district of Nago City in exchange for the closure of the Futenma base as agreed on between the two governments in 1996. However, faced with strong local opposition, the original plan stalled and the two governments have been looking for other location.

In his statement issued on the same day, Japanese Communist Party House of Representatives member Akamine Seiken criticized the Japanese government for allowing the U.S. to relocate the Futenma base to yet another location in Okinawa in line with the U.S. strategy to increase the mobility of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Akamine pointed out that the Japanese government once expressed its recognition that the filling in of Oura Bay will adversely affect the environment.

Akamine demanded that the Japanese and U.S. governments listen to Okinawans opposing the new base construction plan and return the Futenma base site without condition. -- Akahata, October 27, 2005