Japan Press Weekly

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2013 May 29 - June 4 [US FORCES]

JCP protests against US fighter’s crash off Okinawa

The Japanese Communist Party Okinawa Prefectural Committee demanded on May 29 that the central government urge the U.S. Forces to put a halt to the flight training exercises of F-15 fighters after one of the jets crashed into the East China Sea the previous day.

On the morning of May 28, an F-15 Eagle deployed to the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa crashed into the waters about 60 kilometers east of Okinawa’s main island. The pilot ejected shortly before the crash and was rescued by a helicopter of Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force.

The following day, JCP representatives, including the party’s prefectural assembly members, made representations in regard to the accident to the Foreign Ministry Okinawa Office and the Okinawa Defense Bureau.

Prefectural assemblyman Kayo Sogi pointed out that many Japanese fishing boats could have been involved in the crash as the area is a good fishing place. He demanded that the government abrogate the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and work to remove the U.S. Kadena base, saying that Okinawans’ lives are always in danger with the presence of U.S. military bases.

Other protesters said, “When an F-15 crashed in America, the U.S. government and its forces suspended the flight training of the planes until they determined the cause of the accident. The Japanese administration should at least call on the U.S. to take the same measure.”