Japan Press Weekly

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2009 April 29 - May 12 [US FORCES]

National government has no right to interfere with local governments’ rejection of U.S. warship visits

Akahata editorial

Local governments and residents are concerned about, and even angered by, an increase in the number of entries into civil ports by U.S. Navy ships.

The number of U.S. warships’ port calls in Japan reached a record 28 in 2006 and again in 2007. There were 24 port calls in 2008. This year, they have entered large ports, including the Otaru and Kagoshima ports.

This shows that U.S. warships are entering most large Japanese ports.

The problem is that these warships enter Japanese civil ports in disregard of refusal orders by municipal heads, who are responsible for the administration of port facilities. In fact, many port administrators are demanding that U.S. forces refrain from using their ports. But U.S. warships are entering the ports ostensibly for “goodwill and friendship visits”, thus attempting to make the use of Japanese ports for military purposes appear to be a routine.

Arrogance of U.S. forces

In April, two U.S. minesweepers entered Ishigaki Port in Okinawa Prefecture without consent, for the first time since Okinawa’s administrative rights were reversed to Japan in 1972.

Ishigaki Mayor Ohama Nagateru, as administer of the port, more than once expressed opposition to the U.S. warships’ entry because Ishigaki Port is too crowded with commercial vessels to allow military vessels in. The mayor exercised his legal power as administrator of the port.

Ishigaki City declared itself nuclear-free in 1985. In 1999, it also declared its port nuclear-free. These declarations for peace represent the citizens’ strong wish to prevent the recurrence of the type of calamities that they experienced during the Battle of Okinawa that took place at the end of World War II in 1945. The ground battle killed 100,000 civilians. Okinawans also suffered from malaria that killed 3,700 people during WWII. U.S. warships have trampled upon Ishigaki residents’ wish for its port to be used only for peaceful purposes.

Contrary to the Japan-U.S. agreement to reduce Okinawans’ burdens from U.S. military bases in Okinawa, they are forcing them to endure even heavier burdens.

One major aim of port calls by U.S. warships is to pave the way to give U.S. forces unlimited access to and use of Japan’s civil seaports and airports in the event of emergencies. This is precisely what the December 2005 report on the plan for U.S. military realignment in Japan states.

The “essential steps that can be taken in peacetime” to strengthen the Japan-U.S. military alliance, the report states, include “contingency use by U.S. forces and the SDF of facilities, including airports and seaports, in Japan”, and the two countries agreed to conduct a “detailed survey”.

The aim of U.S. warships’ entry into Ishigaki Port in defiance of the port administrator’s opposition was to lay the groundwork for a “detailed survey” to enhance its military use.

The Japanese government’s attitude of giving U.S. warships free access to Japanese ports is a serious problem.

The government insists that accepting the U.S. warships’ entry is a kind of obligation under the Status of U.S. Forces in Japan Agreement provision that declares, ‘access to any port of Japan is free from toll.’

This provision only mentions that the U.S. forces’ vessels are free from being charged. If the U.S. warships enter freely, Japanese ports are essentially the equivalent of naval bases. The government’s interpretation of the provision is a matter of serious concern.

Limit the use of ports to peaceful purposes

The Japanese Ports and Harbors Act requires all vessels entering ports to obtain permits from port administrators. In the case of civil port entry, the U.S. forces have to follow the same procedure.

The government explains, “Under the emergency situations in areas surrounding Japan, all vessels are required to ask municipal leaders (port administrators) for permission to enter as usual” (The Government’s explanation of Article 9 of the Contingency Law issued in July 2000).

It is clearly illegal for U.S. warships to enter Japanese ports by disregarding the port administrator’s denial of entry.

Both the Japanese and U.S. governments must end the U.S. warships’ forcible entry with the aim of using Japanese civilian ports for U.S. wars.

Making civilian seaports and airports, which should be peaceful, into bases for war is unacceptable.