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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

JCP Ichida criticizes governmentﾕs new U.S. air base plan in Okinawa

At a press conference on April 10, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi criticized the ﾔagreementﾕ between the Japanese government and Okinawaﾕs Nago City on the construction of a new state-of-the-art U.S. base on the shoreline of U.S. Marine Corps Camp Schwab.

Ichida said that the ﾔagreementﾕ goes against the prefectural peopleﾕs call for U.S. bases to be reduced and eventually withdrawn from Okinawa.

ﾒThe Okinawa governor, local newspapers, and residents are determined to reject the plan. The JCP will increase its efforts to block the new base plan in solidarity with them,ﾓ Ichida stressed.

JCP Okinawa Prefectural Committee representatives on the same day visited the Naha Regional Defense Facilities Administration Bureau to request that the Japanese government withdraw the ﾒagreementﾓ on Nagoﾕs base plan.

JCP Okinawa Prefectural Committee Acting Chair Murayama Ken emphasized that the new shoreline base, if constructed, will increase noise pollution from U.S. military aircraft and dangers of their crashes and destroy the rich natural environment of Nago. He criticized the government for trying to ignore the prefectural governmentﾕs opposition to the shoreline plan.

Earlier on the day, the JCP Okinawa Prefectural Committee representatives visited the prefectural government office and requested that Governor Inamine Keiichi maintain his opposition to the new base plan. To the request that the governor continue representing the majority opinion of ﾔNoﾕ to the new U.S. base plan, the governorﾕs office chief answered that there is no change in the prefectural governmentﾕs opposition to the new base plan.

Governor Inamine has been opposed to the shoreline plan, while calling for an on-sea base for military-civilian co-use with the term limited to 15 years, but all these conditions have been ignored by the new ﾔagreement.ﾕ He has the right to approve or reject the central governmentﾕs request for the reclamation of the sea area for the new base site.
- Akahata, April 11, 2006