March 9, 2010

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirano Hirofumi said on March 8, “There is a case in which we must ask a local municipality to go beyond its resolution and take action,” commenting on a resolution that the Nago City Assembly adopted on the same day opposing the relocation plan of the U.S. Futenma base in Ginowan City to U.S. Camp Schwab.

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi on the same day criticized Hirano’s remarks as openly indicating the possibility of relocating the Futenma base within Okinawa. “Mr. Hirano stated before that there is no reason to consider Nago residents’ demands. His latest remarks show he has not changed this position,” Ichida added.

Describing the relocation of the Futenma base to Camp Schwab in Nago City as betraying Okinawans’ demands, Ichida stressed that the call for an unconditional return of the Futenma base site is increasingly important. “Whether the government will stand by the U.S. government or stand by Japanese citizens is the question,” he said.
- Akahata, March 9, 2010