The governor of Japan’s south Okinawa prefecture on Tuesday revoked a permit allowing the construction of a new US Marine Corps air force base on the island. It is envisaged as a replacement for the current facility at Futenma, right in the middle of a densely-populated part of the main island.
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In the morning of October 13, Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga revoked his predecessor’s approval of landfill in Henoko, Nago.
He said: “There is no change in our plan to proceed with the work”.
Having completed all the legal procedures Onaga said the regional defense bureau has been given a chance to present its case for negation, with the bureau likely to apply to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism for a temporary injunction and for his decision to be overturned, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said Tuesday. Suga, the chief Cabinet secretary, said the central government sees “no legal flaws” in the approval for landfill work given in 2013 by then Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima.
Okinawa is home to more than half of the 47,000 U.S. service personnel stationed in Japan as part of the two countries’ defence alliance, a proportion many islanders say is too high. He called on the government to shut down the Futenma air station without relocating it, arguing that the southernmost island prefecture already shoulders an unfair burden in hosting US military facilities in Japan.
Onaga’s decision came after the central and Okinawa governments failed to reach a compromise over the relocation of the Futenma base in their monthlong consultations ending early September to defuse tensions over the issue. “We decided that rescinding it was reasonable”, he told a news conference in Okinawa.
Many Okinawans want the U.S. base closed down altogether. Work resumed last month, but has now stopped again with Onaga’s move to remove approval.
In Tokyo, the government said it would press ahead regardless.
Protesters during a rally against the relocation of a United States military base in Naha, Okinawa prefecture.
The U.S. has said it is committed to relocating the base.
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Yumi Aketa, 26, joined the demonstrations about a week ago. “What the government is doing now is wrong”.
