Analysts: Okinawa vote a blow to Japan-US ties
TOKYO: Voters in Okinawa have thrown a spanner into Japan’s relations with the United States after electing a governor who wants the American military to downsize its presence at a time of alarm over China’s territorial ambitions.
Takeshi Onaga rode a wave of anti-US resentment to pummel two-term incumbent Hirokazu Nakaima in a weekend poll widely seen as a referendum on the deal he struck to move an American airbase from a crowded city centre to a pristine bit of coast.
While most Japanese value the protection the US military alliance gives them, especially in the context of Beijing’s growing assertiveness in its numerous regional disputes, a sizable proportion of Okinawans want them to leave the island.
“I will firmly implement my campaign pledge of seeking to remove the Futenma airbase outside Okinawa and never allow a new base in Henoko,” Onaga said, referring to the agreed site of the proposed relocation.
Around half of the 47,000 US servicemen stationed in Japan as part of a security treaty are based in Okinawa, a once-independent kingdom that was annexed in the 19th century and fell under US control from 1945 to 1972.
The island chain is strategically vital for the US, giving it a hefty foothold in the western Pacific, which has become increasingly important as China’s military ambitions have burgeoned.
Neither Washington nor Tokyo, which depends heavily on the US for protection, can afford to dramatically reduce the American military presence there.
But, says Yoshinobu Yamamoto, professor emeritus of Tokyo University, the voters’ rejection of a December 2013 breakthrough that looked set to finalise the Futenma move posed “significant challenges” for the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“It could delay the implementation of the plan for years ahead,” Yamamoto said.
“As protest activities may intensify ... we may see bloodshed if the government chooses to build the new base forcibly, which is legally possible,” he said.
The shuttering of Futenma and the opening of a replacement facility at Nago, 50 kilometres (30 miles) away, was first agreed in 1996 as the US sought to calm local anger after the gang rape by servicemen of a schoolgirl.
But it has been bogged down ever since with local politicians blocking the move in a bid to reduce the American footprint.
At the end of last year, Nakaima agreed to drop his opposition in exchange for a hefty annual cash injection to the local economy. — AFP
It could delay the implementation of the plan for years ahead. As protest activities may intensify ... we may see bloodshed if the government chooses to build the new base forcibly, which is legally possible. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, professor emeritus of Tokyo University