Japan Press Weekly

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2015 January 28 - February 3 [POLITICS]

Abe shows ‘so-what’ attitude towards Okinawans’ opposing stance to US base construction

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo said on January 27 that proceeding with the construction of a new U.S. military base in Okinawa’s Nago City is not going against the spirit of democracy.

Abe made this remark in a Lower House plenary session in response to an interpellation by Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Kokuta Keiji.

Kokuta noted in his interpellation that all the candidates opposing the base construction won in the three major local elections last year: the Nago mayoral election in January, the Okinawa gubernatorial race in November, and the general election (in all the four single-seat constituencies in Okinawa) in December. Kokuta condemned the government led by Abe for trying to push ahead with the construction project despite these election results, saying, “It is unacceptable in a democratic nation.”

Abe insisted that the plan to “relocate” the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Ginowan City to the Henoko coastal area in Nago City within the prefecture is the “only feasible solution” to alleviate the burdens imposed on local people. “I don’t think this stance runs counter to democracy,” he said.

The JCP parliamentarian referred to the fact that the Okinawa prefectural administration set up a third-party committee on January 26 in order to determine whether the former governor actually went through due process in approving the central government’s application for the reclamation project for the base construction. Kokuta demanded that the state accept the incumbent governor’s request to suspend the ongoing offshore work until the independent committee reaches its conclusion.

The prime minister again showed an indifferent attitude, saying, “I know little about such a committee.”

Past related article:
> Gov’t forcibly resumes on-sea project for new US base construction [January 16, 2015]