Don’t turn its back on Okinawans wish to remove U.S. bases!

Japan Press Weekly

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

Don’t turn its back on Okinawans wish to remove U.S. bases! - Akahata editorial (excerpts)

Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio and U.S. President Barack Obama held their second summit talks in Tokyo to discuss the Japan-U.S. relationship and the issue of Afghanistan, and agreed to jointly tackle the issues of nuclear disarmament and global warming.

They confirmed that a ministerial working group will examine the removal of the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station from Ginowan City in Okinawa Prefecture. President Obama, however, urged Hatoyama to keep the Japan-U.S. agreement on new base construction at the Henoko district in Nago City, and Hatoyama promised that he will accept a “deepening” of the Japan-U.S. relationship and bilateral agreement on the “U.S. military realignment” without seeking the removal of U.S. bases.

Directly request removal of U.S. bases!

The Futenma base is considered the most dangerous U.S. base in the world for local residents because it is located in the center of the populous Ginowan’s residential area. For Okinawans, including Ginowan citizens, removing such a dangerous base is an urgent demand. The Japanese and U.S. governments vowed to remove the Futema base 13 years ago. Prime Minister Hatoyama at the summit talks explained that Okinawans are expecting the removal because he pledged to relocate the Futenma base to outside the prefecture or even outside Japan during the August general election campaign.

If Hatoyama wants to deliver on his election promise, he should negotiate with President Obama to squarely demand that the U.S. withdraw the Futenme base. The agreement to have a ministerial working group means that Hatoyama is avoiding responding to Okinawan demands.

President Obama at a news conference held after the summit meeting again said that the ministerial consultation aims to achieve implementation of the bilateral agreement on the new base construction.

At the summit meeting, Hatoyama expressed the view that the Japan-U.S. alliance is “the foundation of all Japan’s diplomacy” and said that both governments will “start a new process of deliberation” for the next year marking the 50th anniversary of the revision of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. If the Hatoyama administration continues to push ahead with the Futenma base’s relocation plan in disregard of Okinawan demands based on the view that the Japan-U.S. military alliance is absolute, a healthy development of the Japan-U.S. relationship will be impossible.

In 2004, former U.S. Defense Minister Donald Henry Rumsfeld said, “The U.S. is unwilling to construct a military facility in an unwelcome area.” For the Japanese and U.S. governments, to fulfill their promise to remove the Futenma base opens the way to a “constructive and future-oriented” relationship.

- Akahata, November 15, 2009