New US Trend: If Japan Is a Democracy, Reverse the Henoko Plan

http://watchingamerica.com/News/226952/new-us-trend-if-japan-is-a-democracy-reverse-the-henoko-plan/



Futenma Air Base on Okinawa

New US Trend: If Japan Is a Democracy, Reverse the Henoko Plan
Ryukyu Shimpo, Japan
By Editorial
Translated By Stephanie Sanders
24 November 2013
Edited by Gillian Palmer

“We could move the military base. But it is a domestic problem in Japan. The security alliance is also at Japan’s request.”* Immediately following the unfortunate incident of Sept. 1995, the U.S and Japanese governments officially worked through the excess burden of military bases in Okinawa for the first time. The following month, U.S. Secretary of Defense Perry came to Japan; I recall he clearly spoke of the possibility of transferring the base outside the prefecture on the premise of improving the U.S. military’s attack deterrence in Japan.

It’s been 18 years since then. In an interview with the Ryukyu Shimpo, former Assistant Secretary of State Campbell, as a U.S. official and think-tank researcher who’s come to be deeply involved in the Okinawa base problem, stated in reference to the issue of moving Futenma air base to Henoko, Nago city, “We have arrived at the stage where we consider whether to proceed further or to explore a different procedure.”

It’s a remark that bears in mind Governor Hirokazu Nakaima’s Henoko landfill decision and the Nago mayoral election. Campbell is the leading expert who remains a key person in U.S. policy toward Japan, but Japan and the U.S. should take seriously the truth in his suggestion of exploring another option at Okinawa’s discretion.

~snip~

Reduction of defense spending accompanied by Marine Corps reduction, decrease of the United States’ role in emergency situations, advances in military technology and distribution strategy of the Asia-Pacific region have led the U.S. to keep an eye on the rise of China. There is shifting terrain behind the increasing flexibility from U.S. Congress and experts toward re-evaluating relocation, but what they share is likely a level-headed decision in light of the “it can’t be forced it in the midst of local opposition” kind of democratic principle.



More info on Futenma can be found here --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futenma