Japan Press Weekly

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2015 March 18 - 24 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Okinawa governor again orders state to stop work on US base construction

Okinawa Governor Onaga Takeshi on March 23 gave the Defense Ministry’s prefectural bureau an “ultimatum” to stop within a week the work associated with the planned construction of a new U.S. military base in the Henoko coastal district of Nago City.

This is the second order following the one the governor issued in February. At a press conference in the prefectural office building, Onaga strongly suggested that if the defense authorities fail to abide by his order, he will revoke the permission for rock drilling which his predecessor granted to the central government last year.

The defense bureau has been dropping a number of huge concrete blocks into the sea outside the permitted area, destroying rare coral reefs.

If the governor withdraws the permission, it will be impossible for the state to continue the ongoing drilling survey in the sea. The national government has a plan to begin the reclamation work this summer following the boring survey.

Later in the day, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Yamashita Yoshiki told reporters that the Abe administration should stop the work immediately in accordance with the governor’s order to do so. “What the prime minister should do is to urge Washington to remove the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station from Okinawa without any preconditions, not to ‘relocate’ it to Henoko,” he stressed.


Past related article:
> Okinawa Gov. orders halt to preparation work for US base construction [February 17, 2015]