Japan’s central government on Tuesday hit a major stumbling block in their efforts to relocate a controversial US airbase on Okinawa, as the prefecture’s governor Takeshi Onaga revoked approval for landfill work meaning the ongoing standoff will likely have to be settled in court.
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US Marine Air Station Futenma is now located in a densely populated area, which has been a safety concern for decades due to the proximity of an airfield near homes, schools, and a hospital.
The governor was elected last November on a platform of opposition to the contentious plan to replace the Futenma base with a new airstrip in the Henoko region of the coastal area of Nago.
In September, after a month of talks between the local government and Tokyo went nowhere, Onaga announced that he was moving to rescind the permission his predecessor, Hirokazu Nakaima, had granted the central government for land reclamation at the new base site.
“The previous governor made an administrative decision, so we believe there’s no problem,”Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference”. Japan’s defense minister has said he would seek legal action to overturn Onaga’s decision and continue with work as planned.
Japan’s central government was not pleased.
“We judged that a revocation of the permit would be appropriate and sent a notice of revocation to the Okinawa Defense Bureau director today”, he said at a press conference Tuesday.
The notification concluded that the landfill approval should be canceled, as the assertion that relocating the Futenma base within the prefecture is geographically advantageous has not been concretely presented.
Many Okinawans want the United States base closed down altogether.
Either way, Onaga’s latest step will tie the central government up in legal procedures that will impede its moves to relocate the base.
Onaga accepted the central government’s proposal for a one-month period of concentrated discussions on the relocation issue.
Over the summer, Tokyo and Okinawa had tried to come to a few agreement over how to resolve their stand-off over the new base construction. He suspended work on the base in March, but was overruled by the central government.
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Yumi Aketa, 26, joined the demonstrations about a week ago.
