Japan Press Weekly

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2010 December 15 - 21 [OKINAWA]

Kan visits Okinawa, acting like the LDP

The government led by the Democratic Party of Japan is now doing exactly the same thing as the previous government in regard to the U.S. Futenma base issue.

Prime Minister Kan Naoto on December 17 visited Okinawan Governor Nakaima Hirokazu at the prefectural office and told him that the government will promote the plan to construct a new base in Henoko in Nago City as a replacement for the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Ginowan City based on an agreement reached between Japan and the United States in May.

The prime minster explained that the Henoko base plan “is not the best but is a better option” because it will be less dangerous than the present Futenma base. This is the same argument made by the former Liberal Democratic Party-led government since the 1996 Japan-U.S. agreement of the Special Action Committee on Okinawa.

The U.S. forces are planning to replace CH-46 helicopters now being deployed at the Futenma base with MV-22 Osprays when a new base is constructed. Ospreys have been involved in frequent accidents and crashes, and have thus been dubbed “widow-making machines”.

Like the LDP, Kan is dangling economic stimulus measures for Okinawa in return for the acceptance of another base to be built there. He is following the LDP government’s usual tactic of “carrots and sticks”.

The people of Okinawa are still experiencing high unemployment rates, twice the national average, having the lowest income per capita of all prefectures in Japan. The root cause that has hampered the local economy from developing is the presence of the U.S. military bases occupying vast areas of the prefecture and the government’s ineffective economic policy in disregard of the unique natural environment of Okinawa. The local economy will be able to develop only when Okinawa is allowed to establish its own economic development strategies not dependent on the military bases.
- Akahata, December 18, 2010