Three mayors: Trade-offs can’t be solution to Futenma base issue

Japan Press Weekly

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Three mayors: Trade-offs can’t be solution to Futenma base issue

Three mayors involved in the government transfer plan of the U.S. Futenma Air Station on April 25 stated in a rally taken part by about 90,000 Okinawans that trade-offs cannot be a solution.

Iha Yoichi, mayor of Ginowan City hosting the Futenma base, said, “Ginowan citizens have suffered under the burden of the Futenma base for 65 years. Any transfer within Okinawa as a trade-off can not settle the question.”

Citing that the U.S. forces had withdrawn from the Philippines, Panama, and Ecuador, Iha said, “The Okinawans are now calling for the closure of the U.S. Futema Air Station. If the United States insists on building alternative facilities within Okinawa, however, we will demand that the U.S. forces leave Okinawa because we want to pass on an island where our children and grandchildren can live in peace.” He called on the participants to urge the Japanese and U.S. governments to give up on the transfer plan.

Inamine Susumu, mayor of Nago City where the government plans to build a new base at Camp Schwab, stressed, “Okinawa now has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the history of the U.S. bases-infested Okinawa.”

Reviewing the 14-year sit-in struggle by many citizens to oppose the transfer of the Futenma base since the two governments agreed in 1996 over the transfer, Inamine said that the citizens have never accepted the base and never will.

The mayor recalled the mayoral election in which he was elected based on his public promise to not allow any new base built in Henoko, as well as the unanimous adoption by the prefectural assembly of a resolution opposing the transfer. He said that he was proud that Nago citizens acted as the initial driving force behind the all-Okinawa movement opposing the base transfer inside Okinawa.

Shimabuku Toshio, mayor of Uruma City where a new base might be built in the White Beach area, said that a government plan to reclaim the sea off Katsuren to build an enormous on-sea base was rejected by the fierce objection of the residents when it was proposed in 1996. The mayor said the opposition movement has rapidly spread, with the mayor expressing opposition, the city assembly unanimously adopting a resolution of opposition, citizens rallying to express their opposition, and the fishermen association declaring opposition. He said that the government transfer plan is an insult to the local residents.

He said, “Uruma City hosts 11 facilities serving the U.S. forces and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. Citizens are forced to endure every kind of damage and danger, from noise, aircraft crashes, radioactive leaks from nuclear-powered submarines, and secret pacts on the bringing in of nuclear weapons into Japan.”

The mayor said that Uruma City, with its many problems in the air, on sea and on land associated with military facilities, is a microcosm of the problems associated with the bases in Okinawa and the existence of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.

- Akahata, April 26, 2010