transfer to guam2

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Paying costs for relocating U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam is unjustifiable
Akahata editorial (excerpts)

At the House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on February 20, Foreign Minister Aso Taro emphasized that Japan's payment of costs for the planned relocation of 7,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam will serve to strengthen U.S. bases in Guam and benefit Japan's security.

Shouldering costs for constructing a base within U.S. territory runs counter to Japan's Constitution and even contradicts the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. Aso's view has no rationale and is propounded to please the U.S.

U.S. allies are cooperating with U.S. military realignment plans, but none of them except for Japan will pay the costs for the withdrawal of for U.S. troops or for military construction in the U.S.

The U.S. government estimates that the new U.S. base in Guam will cost 7.6 billion dollars (813 billion yen), and expects Japan to pay more than 500 billion yen of that.

Even if 7,000 U.S. Marines in Okinawa are removed to Guam, most ground and air units of U.S. Marine Corps units will remain in Okinawa and continue to disturb Okinawans with noise pollution, possible crashes, and crimes. Contrary to what Aso claims, Okinawans will be forced to shoulder even heavier burdens if the new state-of-the-art Marine air base in Guam is constructed.

The "interim report" on the U.S. military realignment calls for "strengthening of Marine Corps crisis response capabilities and a redistribution of those capabilities among Hawaii, Guam and Okinawa that will provide greater flexibility to respond with appropriate capabilities and will also enable increased theater security cooperation with countries of the region." Thus the aim of the U.S. is to smoothly deploy U.S. Marines through the further integration of their bases on these three islands.

Contrary to the argument that the relocation "will also substantially reduce burdens in Okinawa," it is the United States that needs to station in Guam the 7,000 Marines with its Marines command from Okinawa.

No new U.S. base construction in Guam can serve to improve support Japan's security. The U.S. military realignment plan will just increase the U.S. Marine Corps' "preemptive strike capabilities." Marine Gen. Michael W. Hagee, commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, stated in November 2005 that dispersing Marine units to Okinawa, Hawaii, and Guam will make it easier to redeploy them to Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and India.

If Japan pays the cost for a new Guam base, it will contradict the Japanese government's stated view that the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty exists "exclusively for the defense of Japan."

The new base in Guam, if constructed, will be another U.S. forward base for waging "war on terrorism." Using Japan's tax money for this base will help the U.S. launch preemptive strikes in violation of United Nations Charter.

Japan, with its war-renouncing Constitution, must not pay such costs. The Japanese government's promise with the U.S. to pay the sum must be withdrawn.
-Akahata, February 26, 2006