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| MAP: ft.com |
"I welcome the governor of Okinawa's decision to approve the landfill permit request to build" a relocation facility for the Futenma Air Station off the Henoko coastal area of Nago, Hagel said in a statement.
"It is the most significant milestone achieved in these realignment efforts so far," Hagel said, referring to "many years of sustained effort" to move the facility from a densely populated area in Ginowan.
The Japanese and U.S. governments mapped out the original plan for the Futenma relocation in 1996 in a bid to reduce the burden on Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. military forces in Japan.
But they have yet to implement it following revisions, due mainly to opposition in local communities.
"Resolving these years-long issues will enable us to take our relationship to the next level as we revise the guidelines for U.S.-Japan defense cooperation," Hagel said, referring to work by both governments to review the guidelines, which detail the roles and cooperation of the Japanese and U.S. forces in a potential contingency, by the end of 2014.#Kyodo
http://www.globalpost.com/node/6030244
27/12/13
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Okinawans file lawsuit to invalidate controversial U.S. base relocation...
ReplyDeleteTOKYO, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- A consortium of residents in Japan' s southernmost Okinawa Prefecture filed a suit Wednesday aimed at invalidating the prefectural governor's approval to reclaim land in a coastal region of the island to be used as the relocation site of a controversial U.S. Marine Corps base.
Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima, who had previously been staunchly opposed to the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station from the crowded, downtown district in Ginowan to the coastal Heneko region, also on Okinawa island, approved permit for landfill work to begin.
Nakaima's decision, made on Dec. 27, 2013, sparked outrage from local citizens who had been assured by prefectural officials that the plan to relocate the base would not go ahead and the new base would be moved off the island entirely.
The consortium comprises 194 plaintiffs, some of whom are residents of the Heneko region, who believe that Nakaima's approval for landfill work to begin is unlawful and the central government has failed to provide satisfactory information regarding how it plans to protect the coastal region's rich and diverse wildlife, including dugongs and a rare coral reef.
The lawsuit is pushing for the local Naha district court to issue an injunction to the central government to suspend the project while the case is pending, a step that the plaintiffs' leader Hiroshi Ashitomi described as a "milestone."
He was quoted by local media as saying the filing of the suit is a milestone in the people of Okinawa's bid to prevent the construction of a new military facility in the coastal region.
He said that the protests would continue until their voices had been heard and that the "struggle to stop the construction of a new military base on Okinawa is destined to win because it is the consensus of 1.4 million people of Okinawa."...............http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-01/15/c_133047878.htm
15/1/14
U.S. envoy Caroline Kennedy visits Okinawa as thorny base relocation issue rumbles on...
ReplyDeleteTOKYO, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy said Wednesday that she would work hard to reduce the base hosting burdens on the local residents of Okinawa Prefecture.
On her first trip to Japan's southernmost prefecture since become the U.S.' official envoy here, Kennedy told Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima in a meeting Wednesday that she plans to maintain an open dialogue with local prefectural officials regarding U.S. bases on the island.
According to local media, however, Kennedy opted not to talk specifically about the stalled planned to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Air Station Futenma from the crowded, downtown district in Ginowan, to the coastal Henoko region, also on Okinawa island.
The matter has become a major thorn on the side of both Tokyo and Washington who wish to push ahead with the base's relocation under a previous bilateral accord, but are being blocked by staunch local opposition to the move.
Nakaima had previously promised the people of Okinawa that the base would be moved off the island entirely, before flip-flopping on the idea, under pressure from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his government...................http://english.cntv.cn/20140212/104035.shtml
12/2/14
JAPAN: Ambassador Kennedy Travel to Okinawa/ Meeting with Mayor of Nago. -Marie Harf, Deputy Spokesperson, Daily Press Briefing.....
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QUESTION: Go to Japan?
MS. HARF: Mm-hmm.
QUESTION: Ambassador Kennedy is in Okinawa.
MS. HARF: Yes.
QUESTION: Do you have anything to tell us about the meetings she’s been in?
MS. HARF: A little bit. Let me see what I have. She’s visiting Okinawa from February 12th to 14th. Today she met with the governor and other leadership, laid flowers at the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park, and engaged in cultural and people-to-people activities, including visiting a high school. Tomorrow, Ambassador Kennedy will meet with U.S. military leadership, and tomorrow night she will return to Tokyo.
QUESTION: There are also reports that she met with the mayor of Nago --
MS. HARF: She did meet briefly with the mayor prior to a reception I guess they were attending.
QUESTION: Yeah. And he asked her – the reports are that he asked her to convey the Okinawan people’s strong opposition to the relocation of the base to President Obama.
MS. HARF: I don’t have more details about their discussion. Let me see if I can get some more.
QUESTION: So the newspapers of Okinawa also wrote editorials strongly expressing their opposition to the relocation. And one of the points they made was that, given that Ambassador Kennedy tweeted her opposition to the drive hunting of dolphins, that why shouldn’t she not also be concerned about the endangered species that are threatened in Henoko Bay if the base is built? What’s your response?
MS. HARF: Let me check with our folks about the environmental impacts and the questions that you say are raised in these editorials. I know we’ve been in discussions about relocation for a number of reasons for a long time. Let me just check and see if I have more on this......http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2014/02/221610.htm#JAPAN
12/2/14
Japan to study closing U.S. base in Okinawa in 5 years....
ReplyDeleteTOKYO, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Japanese government will convene a committee with local prefectural officials in Okinawa to explore closing the controversial U.S. Marines' Futenma air base in Ginowan City in Japan's southernmost prefecture, top government spokesman said Friday.
According to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the committee will initially comprise himself, alongside Foreign Minister Kishida Fumio, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera and Ichita Yamamoto, the minister in charge of Okinawa.
The central government team is expected to hold talks Monday with Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima and Ginowan Mayor Atsushi Sakima on ways Okinawa can be reduced of its U.S. base hosting burden, including closing the Futenma air base within five years.
Nakaima, who had previously promised the people of Okinawa that the Futenma base would be moved off the island entirely, changed his mind under pressure from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and gave the green light to a landfill project to be started in a coastal region for the base's relocation on the island.
Under a pact between Japan and the U.S in 1996 which was recently supported by Nakaima, the Futenma base will be relocated from the densely populated Ginowan to the coastal area of Henoko district in Nago, also on Okinawa island.
The relocation project outlines that 60 hectares of coastal land would need to be reclaimed during the five-year construction plan, much to the annoyance and anger of local prefectural officials, as well as the islanders, who are concerned that the construction work will irrevocably damage the local fishing industry as well as the natural environment.
Ties have subsequently been strained between the U.S. and Japan over the stalled move and despite Nakaima's U-turn to favor the plan, local opposition remains steadfast............http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-02/14/c_133115955.htm
14/2/14