August 21, 2024

Regarding the construction of a new U.S. military base at Henoko in Nago City, Okinawa, the Ministry of Defense on August 20 commenced the work near “Seawall A” on the north side of Oura Bay where soft ground prevails.

Despite the fact that the Okinawa prefectural government had demanded that the construction work should not proceed until prior consultations were completed, the national government ignored the prefecture’s authority and unilaterally forced through the “substitute execution” work.

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira at a press conference held in the Diet building on the same day severely criticized the national government’s act associated with the base project, calling it “an outrage that tramples on local autonomy and democracy,” and demanded that the construction work be stopped immediately.

Koike pointed out that the construction work involves driving 71,000 sand dikes into the mayonnaise-like seafloor and that it is estimated to take more than 12 years to complete the new base. He said, “In the first place, civil engineering experts question whether or not the construction is technically feasible.”

He went on to say that when he visited Okinawa for a field survey on August 10, coral transplantation work was underway in extremely high seawater temperatures, even though the Okinawa Defense Bureau states that transplantation will not take place on days when the seawater temperature is 28.9 degrees Celsius or higher.

He criticized the construction work, saying, “The precious natural environment of Oura Bay is being destroyed, and the 84,000 coral colonies are being transplanted without any consideration to damage to the coral.”

Past related articles:
> Tokyo forcibly begins soft-ground improvement work for US base construction in Okinawa [January 11, 2024]
> Government survey for new U.S. base construction destroys coral reefs [May 22, 2007]