Kan used to advocate withdrawal of U.S. Marines from Okinawa

Japan Press Weekly

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Kan used to advocate withdrawal of U.S. Marines from Okinawa

In the past, when the Democratic Party of Japan was an opposition party, Kan Naoto, as DPJ leader, used to advocate the withdrawal of the U.S. Marines from Okinawa. However, as soon as he took office as prime minister, he said that the U.S. Marines are extremely important for Japan as a deterrent force and that he will carry out the Japan-U.S. agreement on the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Base within Okinawa.

What a flip-flop in Kan's remarks before and after becoming prime minister!

Here are some of Kan's remarks regarding the issue of the U.S. forces in Okinawa that he made in the past:

"(Regarding U.S. bases in Okinawa,) with having the final goal of taking away all U.S. forces from Okinawa, first of all, I think, the U.S. Marines which account for the majority of the U.S. forces in Okinawa should immediately go back to their homeland. I promise that we will surely state this to the U.S. government when the DPJ takes power" (Speech delivered on July 21, 2001 in Naha City during the House of Councilors election campaign, Asahi Shimbun, July 22, 2001).

"The DPJ-led government will certainly urge the U.S. government to sincerely consider removing U.S. Marine bases from Okinawa which represent a large part of the U.S. bases in the prefecture. Because most of the U.S. Marine bases in Okinawa are used to train fresh recruits, even if such bases are transferred to Hawaii or Saipan, it will supposedly have no influence on the military balance in the Asian Region" (September 2002 issue of Gendai magazine).

"Some say that if the U.S. Marines leave Okinawa, the deterrence of the U.S. forces in Japan will be weakened. However, the actual role of the U.S. Marines is not to defend Japan. They fly halfway around the world to attack other countries. No matter whether the U.S. Marines stay in Okinawa, the deterrent effect of the U.S. forces in Japan will not change. At time when the issue of the U.S. forces realignment came up, I should have requested the U.S. government to move all the U.S. Marines from Okinawa" (A speech at a meeting of a study group on modern social democracy held on June 1, 2006).

- Akahata, June 16, 2010