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2015 January 28 - February 3 [POLITICS]

JCP Akamine: PM should accept Okinawans’ anti-base verdict

Japanese Communist Party Lower House member Akamine Seiken on January 30 urged Prime Minister Abe to give up the construction of a new U.S. base in Nago’s Henoko in Okinawa by accepting local voters’ verdict against the base construction in the gubernatorial and general elections last year.

In Okinawa in 2014, anti-base candidates won in elections for Nago City mayor and Okinawa governor. In addition, in the general election held at the end of last year, base opponents, including JCP Akamine, defeated their rivals of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in all four single-seat districts.

In a House Budget Committee meeting, in reply to the JCP lawmaker, Abe stuck to his view that relocation of the U.S. Futenma base (Ginowan City) to Henoko is the only way to help ease Okinawa’s base burdens, while saying that he will sincerely take into account the election results.

Akamine presented local paper’s photos which show Japan Coast Guard officers’ violent reaction to people in small boats and canoes who have been staging a nonviolent protest against the on-sea project for the base construction. He demanded that the government stop trampling on the citizens’ right to protest.

In the photos, a maritime law enforcement officer is shown trying to take the video camera away from a female film director, Kageyama Asako, who was videoing the on-sea protest.

Commenting on the photos, Transport Minister Ota Akihiro, who controls the coast guard, said that the officer just wanted to keep the woman safe.

The JCP representative then moved on to the issue that heavy equipment used to anchor floats to mark the no-entry zone in the sea off Henoko were carried away by a powerful typhoon and that they damaged coral reefs.

Defense Minister Nakatani Gen admitted that 120 of the 248 floats’ anchors were swept away by the strong typhoon in October 2014 and that some anchors were dragged on the sea floor. He, however, just suggested installing heavier anchors.

Akamine protested the defense minister’s suggestion for having nothing to do with the protection of the coral reef and called for a halt to all projects for the construction of a new U.S. base without delay.

Past related articles:
> Anti-base lawmakers protest against environmental damage caused by US base construction [October 28, 2014]
> Nature conservation NGO calls for survey of dugong feeding grounds in Henoko [August 20, 2014]