Gov’t betrays public by sticking to Futenma relocation plan: JCP Kami

Japan Press Weekly

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

Gov’t betrays public by sticking to Futenma relocation plan: JCP Kami

Japanese Communist Party House of Councilors member Kami Tomoko on May 12 criticized the government for trying to relocate functions of the U.S. Futenma base in Okinawa to another part of the prefecture and to Kagoshima’s Tokunoshima Island in disregard of local opposition in both proposed locations.

“The government betrays the public trust by insisting on its ‘relocation’ plan,” said Kami at an Upper House special committee meeting on Okinawa and Northern problems, calling for the unconditional return of the Futenma base.

Kami stressed that local oppositions to the base relocation have been clearly demonstrated in Okinawa, where 90,000 people took part in the April 25 rally as well as in Tokunoshima Island, where 60 percent of residents jointly raised their voices in opposition on April 18.

Asked by Kami how the government recognizes those voices, Foreign Minister Okada Katsuya answered, “We will seriously take them into consideration.”

Okada, however, spoke of another possibility of relocating the Futenma base’s functions to several places in Japan as a way to “share the burdens.” “The presence and deterrence of the U.S. forces in Japan are necessary to maintain the safety of our nation,” he insisted.

Referring to the remark made by former Air Self-Defense Force chief of staff Tomizawa Hikaru, who stated that U.S. bases in Japan are not for Japan’s defense but for maintaining the world order centered on U.S. dominance, Kami criticized the government for attempting to continue to deceive the public into believing that the U.S. bases are for Japan’s defense.

- Akahata, May 13, 2010