Japan Press Weekly

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2009 April 8 - 14 [US FORCES]

End absurdity of continuing to use tax money to reinforce foreign military bases

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on April 9 called a news conference to call for rejection of the Japan-U.S. agreement on the relocation of a part of the U.S. Marine Corps in Okinawa to Guam because it is a humiliating agreement, which has no parallel in any other country.

The ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties were set to railroad through the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee a bill to ratify the agreement on the next day.

Shii stated as follows:

“No country in the world has ever used its own tax money to reinforce foreign bases that exist outside of the country. Japan is the first to do this. It’s absurd.

This is a package agreement providing that a state-of-the-art USMC air base should be constructed in the Henoko district of Nago City in Okinawa. (The agreement states, ‘[T]he III MEF relocation from Okinawa to Guam is dependent on tangible progress toward completion of the Futenma Replacement Facility.’)

The Okinawa Prefectural Assembly on March 25 adopted a resolution opposing the Guam Agreement. Okinawa’s prefecural assembly members recently petitioned political party leaders, including myself, on this issue, expressing their strong anger at this package deal. Such a deal that forces Okinawans to accept the strengthening of the functions and the perpetuation of U.S. bases in Okinawa is totally unacceptable.

A number of serious problems have been laid bare in the course of the parliamentary discussion.

One is that Japan will be indefinitely forced to shoulder much of the financial burden for U.S. bases in Guam as well as in Japan. Our tax money will be used not only to pay for the relocation cost but also for training exercises and movements of the U.S. Marine Corps on Guam as well as for the construction of U.S. Naval and Air Force facilities on the island.

In other words, the Guam Agreement will establish a mechanism for using Japanese tax money without limit.

The stated aim of the relocation is to carry out a reduction of 8,000 U.S. Marine Corps stationed in Okinawa. However, the parliamentary discussion has revealed that this was a lie. Currently, there are 12,000 or 13,000 Marines stationed in Okinawa. They now say that ten thousand Marines in combat units will not be removed from Okinawa.

This means that the troop level will only be reduced only by 2,000 or 3,000.

Ginowan Mayor Iha Yoichi recently told me that Raymond Greene, the secretary in charge of political-military affairs at the U.S. Embassy, said that if the number of U.S. Marines in Okinawa goes down to under 10,000, additional forces will be brought into Okinawa from outside.

Now that these facts have emerged in the course of the parliamentary discussions, the Diet has the duty to thoroughly examine the issues related to the Guam Agreement and reject its ratification.

Putting the bill to a vote tomorrow (April 10) at the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs is out of question. Such an outrageous move will cause great indignation among Okinawans. The agreement, if ratified, will impose grave danger to all Japanese.”