Rally for removal of US base from Okinawa
TOKYO: Tens of thousands of protesters on Okinawa have vowed to stop the planned relocation of a US military base, saying they want it off the southern Japanese island entirely.
Opponents of the relocation say the plan to move US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from a crowded neighbourhood to a less populated coastal site would not only be an environmental debacle but also ignore local wishes to remove the base.
About 70,000 people gathered on Saturday at a park in the state capital of Naha under pouring rain before an approaching typhoon and observed a moment of silence for Okinawa’s governor, Takeshi Onaga, who died on Wednesday, of cancer.
Onaga, elected in 2014, had spearheaded opposition to the relocation and criticised the central government for ignoring the voices of Okinawans. He had filed lawsuits against the central government and said he planned to revoke a landfill permit issued by his predecessor that is needed for construction of the new base.
Deputy Governor Kiichiro Jahana, representing Onaga at the rally, said he would follow through with the revocation process as instructed by the governor and emulate his ‘‘strong determination and passion’’.
Okinawans are trying to block the Government plan to start dumping soil into Henoko Bay within days to make a landfill for the new site. Environmental groups say construction at the bay risks corals and endangered dugongs.
Japan’s Government says the current plan is the only solution, but many Okinawans want the base off the island. About half the 50,000 American troops in Japan are stationed on Okinawa.
Onaga had said Tokyo’s postwar defence posture under the JapanUS security alliance was built on Okinawa’s sacrifice.
The dispute over the Futenma relocation reflects centuriesold tensions between Okinawa and the Japanese mainland, which annexed the islands, formerly the independent kingdom of the Ryukus, in 1878. Okinawa was Japan’s only home battleground in the final days of World War 2 and the island remained under US rule for 20 years longer than the rest of Japan. — AP