July 3, 2015
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2015 July 1 - 7 TOP3 [POLITICS]
Pentagon: No US base in Japan assigned to defend Japan |
The National Security Archive, a private institution in the United States, recently obtained this document based on the Freedom of Information Act and made it public.
The Japanese government led by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is pushing ahead with the construction of a new U.S. base in Okinawa’s Henoko coastal area, claiming that it is indispensable for maintaining a “deterrence” to protect Japan from foreign attack. The declassified document indicates that the government claim is totally groundless.
The document is dated December 6, 1968. At that time, Washington was suffering serious financial difficulties due to the increasing costs associated with the Vietnam War. The Pentagon was considering reducing the cost of maintaining U.S. bases abroad.
The document lists more than 10 U.S. military facilities in Japan to be closed down. They include Camp Zama (Kanagawa Pref.), the Sasebo Naval Base (Nagasaki Pref.), and the Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Okinawa which had been under American military occupation until 1972.
Noting that the main purpose of the U.S. bases and troops in Japan is to respond to “emergencies” in Asian regions such as the Korean and Indochina peninsulas, it insists that the U.S. military can still deal with a state of emergency in those regions with its remaining facilities and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces.
Faced with fierce opposition from the Navy and Air Force departments, however, that plan was not carried out.
Today, the U.S. military in Japan is acknowledged as forward deployed expeditionary forces that can wage wars around the globe. It is extremely clear that they have nothing to do with the defense of Japan.
Past related article:
> Onaga demands halt to US base construction at memorial ceremony [June 24, 2015]
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