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2009 April 8 - 14 [US FORCES]

Ginowan mayor gives opinion on agreement to relocate U.S. Marines to Guam

Okinawa’s Ginowan City Mayor Iha Yoichi at a House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs meeting on April 8 stated his opinion on the Japan-U.S. agreement to implement the relocation of a part of the U.S. Marine Corps stationed in Okinawa to Guam. The gist of his statement is as follows:

“The plan to relocate about 8,000 U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa to Guam gave us hope that Ginowan citizens would be relieved of the burden of hosting the present U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station and that Okinawans’ burden of U.S. bases would be reduced if the land to the south of the U.S. Air Force Kadena Base site is returned to Okinawa.

However, listening to government explanations, I do not see any indication of reducing the Okinawans’ burden of U.S. bases or of removing the danger associated with the Futenma base.

The set of plans to promote the relocation of a part of the U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa to Guam and to push ahead with the construction of a new U.S. base in the Henoko district of Nago City should also include a plan to return the land south of the Kadena base to Okinawa. The plan was to be completed by March 2007, but the government has done nothing.

On the contrary, we have not been informed as to which U.S. Marine Corps units in Okinawa will be relocated to Guam. Eventually, the government explained that when it said that 8,000 U.S. Marines will be moved to Guam, it is not a real number but just a target number. What is more, it was shocking to hear the government say that 8,000 out of 15,000 U.S. Marines -5,000 more than the number of U.S. Marines actually stationed in Okinawa as cited during the bilateral negotiations aimed at completing a ‘Roadmap’ for implementing the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan- would be relocated to Guam.

U.S. government reports have made me believe that all U.S. Marine Corps air units stationed at the Futenma base, except for KC-130 refueling aircraft units, were moving to Guam.

Why does the government assert that 8,000 marines, who are going to Guam from Okinawa, are mainly command-related personnel and that it is not the actual number of personnel to be relocated? If the government is paying about six billion dollars for the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps to Guam, it should first relocate all operational units from Okinawa because they are the heaviest burdens for the people of Okinawa. As for the Futenma base, I demand that it should be relocated out of Japan as early as possible and that the government achieve its elimination in order to reduce the burdens of the bases on Okinawa.

At the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo in February, I met with Raymond Greene, the secretary in charge of political-military affairs at the embassy, and I was shocked to hear him explain that even after the relocation of 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam, another 10,000 U.S. military personnel will be brought in to maintain the fixed troop level at 18,000. If that is true, it is unacceptable to most Okinawans.

If that is what the ‘roadmap’ is really about, the government should immediately withdraw all the plans, including the construction of a new base in the Henoko district of Nago City, and should also freeze Japan’s financial support for the relocation of U.S. Marines to Guam. I really hope that the Diet in the relevant committees of the both Houses will fully discuss whether or not the relocation plan will actually ease the burdens of the bases on Okinawans to the extent that it can convince all Japanese people.”