Alliance of Subordination Mechanism of US privileges -- Part III

Japan Press Weekly

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Alliance of Subordination
Mechanism of US privileges -- Part III

Why are rights of control unlike in Europe?

“U.S. military planes come and go as they like every day,” sighed Tokashiki Michiaki, chief of the base affairs section of the Kadena Town government in Okinawa Prefecture.

Sharp increase in transient aircraft

Noise pollution caused by U.S. military aircraft at the U.S. Kadena Base, where about 150 planes are continually landing and taking off, is at the worst level in Japan. In a survey by Kadena Town in FY 2009, noise levels exceeding the maximum allowable environmental standard took place about 25,000 times, which is the worst ever recorded.

There were nearly 5,000 night flights between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. in violation of a noise prevention agreement signed by a Japan-U.S. joint committee in 1996.

The major cause of the increasing noise pollution is the sharp increase in transient aircraft coming from Japan’s mainland, South Korea, and the U.S. mainland. Kadena Town Mayor Miyagi Tokujitsu said indignantly, “This is clearly a forward deployment of the military training force.”

Noise pollution is significant elsewhere in Japan where U.S. bases are located. Near Atsugi Base (Kanagawa Pref.), excessive noise comes from landing practice of aircraft attached aircraft carriers as well as from low-altitude flying training exercises. Aircraft assigned to Kadena Base fly at low altitudes all the way from Okinawa to Atsugi, and U.S. aircraft stationed in South Korea are also involved.

The rights guaranteed to the U.S. forces to use the bases as they please in Japan are extraordinary. Any unit can exercise any type of training they want, whenever they like, for whatever purpose.

No heed to noise

The principles on the use of bases in Japan are stipulated by Article 3 of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The article stipulates exclusive rights for the use and control of the bases and in the vicinities of the facilities and base areas.

The SOFA states that at “the access for the U.S. armed forces” (including aircraft take-offs and landings, and entries to and exits from sea ports), “necessary measures shall be taken within the scope of applicable laws and regulations.” However, no measures have been taken to control aircraft noise exceeding Japan’s noise regulation standards or in regard to low-altitude flying training which is not allowed even under U.S. aviation standards.

Kadena Town is calling for an agreement on the use of the base and limiting the number of flights and training routes to replace the present agreement, but the U.S. side refuses to enter into discussions.

How is the situation in Germany, another major U.S. ally? The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) SOFA supplementary agreement revised in 1993 in Bonn, explicitly stipulates the principle that the use of bases by foreign forces should be “consistent with the requirements of German law.” It also stipulates details regulating “maneuvers and other training exercises” to be conducted inside and outside the base. In Italy, the Italian government in principle has the right of control over the U.S. bases.

Why are the U.S. forces in Japan allowed to use the bases as they like? One of the reasons is that, unlike SOFAs in European countries, Article 3 of the Japan-U.S. SOFA is ambiguous in regard to the rights of control over the bases, and this ambiguity allows the U.S. forces to stretch interpretations to their advantage.

The other reason involves the “secret agreements” concluded between Japan and the United States. The U.S. forces have maintained the military privileges they secured during the period of U.S. military occupation in the form of “secret agreements” which have been carried over into the present Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. Secret agreements on the rights of control over the bases in relation to Article 3 of the SOFA have recently been revealed.

(To be continued)