2009 June 3 - 9 TOP3 [
POLITICS]
Budget for public works projects must not be diverted to U.S. forces in Japan
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June 8, 2009
New questionable methods to provide funding for the U.S. forces Japan are drawing attention. The Japanese government is using tax money earmarked for domestic public works projects to fund the construction and relocation of U.S. military facilities under the name of the “sympathy budget.”
Akahata editorial
New questionable methods to provide funding for the U.S. forces in Japan are drawing attention. The Japanese government is using tax money earmarked for domestic public works projects to fund the construction and relocation of U.S. military facilities under the name of the “sympathy budget.”
The Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement stipulates that the U.S. forces in Japan shall pay the costs for their activities in Japan. There is no reason for Japan to pay such costs. The public is angry about cutbacks in expenditures that are essential for living conditions while paying 200 billion yen a year for the U.S. forces in Japan under the name of the “sympathy budget”. Maintaining the “sympathy budget” even by using costs set aside for public works projects to maintain the Japan-U.S. military alliance is a betrayal of the public trust.
It is absurd to try to meet all needs of U.S. forces
The “sympathy budget” covers almost all items associated with the activities of the U.S. forces in Japan, including housing for the families of the U.S. forces, chapels, hangers for fighter jets, and costs for training exercises. They are under the jurisdiction of the Defense Ministry. However, a part of the funds earmarked for public works projects under the Construction and Transport Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry are being used for the U.S. forces in Japan.
In Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture, tax revenue earmarked for road construction was used to build 11 houses for U.S. officers, each costing 250 million yen including land development costs. The payment was made under the pretext of the need to compensate U.S. forces for the change of the site of construction of their houses planned in 1990. This was the first case that a ministry other than the Defense Ministry used its money to pay for the “sympathy budget”.
On Iejima Island in Okinawa, a plan is under way to build new barracks to replace the existing barracks as part of a national irrigation and drainage project to secure water for agriculture under the control of the agriculture ministry. Discussion is now under way about using a part of the agriculture ministry budget to fund the relocation and rebuilding of the barracks, instead of using the Defense Ministry’s “sympathy budget”. The government explains that this change is justifiable because the irrigation and drainage project covers part of the U.S. base site. The aim, however, is to have the agriculture ministry contribute a part of its budget to the “sympathy budget.”
This trick arises from the fact that, faced with increasing public criticism, the government is compelled to scale back its annual payment from the “sympathy budget” which amounts to 200 billion yen.
The “sympathy budget”, including the payment for the Special Action Committee on Okinawa (SACO, for the realignment of U.S. bases on Okinawa), was cut from the 235.8 billion yen in FY2005 to 203.9 billion yen in FY2009. Dissatisfied with even this modest cut, the United States began to urge Japan to increase its military assistance budget.
Isn’t this an outright intervention in the internal affairs of Japan?
In order to evade criticism, the government is asking ministries other than the Defense Ministry to shoulder the burden of the “sympathy budget” in order to satisfy the U.S. The Japanese government’s servile attitude arises from its deep-seated view that the Japan-U.S. military alliance is paramount in importance.
Abolish the ‘sympathy budget’ to pave the way for a Japan without U.S. bases
The U.S. forces are stationed in Japan to implement U.S. military strategy and not to “defend Japan”. On the contrary, U.S. military personnel in Japan have committed many crimes, threatening the security of the people in Japan. Nothing justifies Japan’s “sympathy budget” to fund the stationing of the U.S. forces in Japan.
Then Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Joseph Nye in 1995 stated, "The most tangible measure of this (host nation) support is Japan's commitment to provide 70 percent of the cost of keeping our troops on its soil."
Also, Professor Kent Calder at Johns Hopkins University, a former special assistant to the U.S. ambassador to Japan, testified in 2008 that “Japan’s cutback in its host nation support for U.S. forces could lead to a substantial reduction of the U.S. military presence in Japan,” and that “Japan will be unattractive as a base location.”
Stop paying the “sympathy budget” is essential for getting all U.S. bases removed from Japan and for building a peaceful Japan.
