Time to Rethink Security: Exercises Begin over Japanese Mainland

Published in Tokyo Shimbun
(Japan) on 8 March 2013
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Ryo Christopher Kato. Edited by Bora Mici.
It is difficult to imagine that recent low-altitude MV-22 Osprey training flights over the Japanese mainland will help alleviate Okinawa’s military presence burden. If the U.S. military insists on exposing us to danger and noise, we will simply increase opposition to the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty.

Last October, 12 Ospreys were deployed to the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa. On Oct. 6 at 1:10 p.m., three Ospreys took off from Futenma. At 3:15 p.m., they were seen flying west over Motoyama, Kochi prefecture and Besshiyama, Ehima prefecture, following the so-called "orange route" that runs from the Wakayama to the Ehima prefecture.

Increasingly casting doubt over their safety, Ospreys have crashed often due to pilot error. It is illogical to force these aircraft onto a base once said to have been referred to as the “world’s most dangerous” by a U.S. secretary of defense when both the U.S. and Japan have agreed to restore Futenma to Japan.

74 percent of U.S. bases in Japan are located in Okinawa. It is no surprise that Okinawa's residents, who suffer from noise, accidents and crimes committed by American soldiers, would oppose the Osprey deployment.

It might make sense to allow Osprey exercises to be conducted outside of Okinawa to ease the burden on civilians. However, accounting for the full scope of training activities, maneuvers conducted on the mainland make up but a small part. This does not count as sharing the burden!

The U.S. military gave the Japanese Ministry of Defense only five to six days’ notice prior to the exercise, providing limited details. The training route was announced only the day before and was altered at the last minute. It is impossible to agree to such exercises when we do not have details and have doubts about safety.

The U.S.' low-altitude exercise paths, including the "orange route," are neither part of military facilities Japan has offered nor training airspace as agreed on in the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty and the Status of Forces Agreement. The U.S. is acting independently; Japan is forced to consent in light of the Security Treaty.

Foreign military aircraft fly freely over Japanese citizens’ heads, Okinawa’s military presence burdens are not decreasing and residents’ complaints go unheard. We cannot even keep the Ospreys on the declared flight paths agreed on by the U.S. and Japanese governments. Is this the resurrection of the U.S.-Japan alliance that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe so loftily declared?

Unless these anomalies are fixed, it will be difficult for the U.S.-Japan security relationship to be the “cornerstone of regional peace and security,” as President Obama stated. The initiation of Osprey training flights over the Japanese mainland is an opportunity to contemplate the meaning of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty.


 沖縄の基地負担軽減につながるとは考えがたい。本土で始まった垂直離着陸輸送機MV22オスプレイの低空飛行訓練。危険と騒音を強いるのなら、日米安全保障体制への反発を増幅させるだけだ。
 オスプレイは昨年十月、米海兵隊普天間飛行場(沖縄県宜野湾市)に十二機配備された。このうち三機が六日午後一時十分ごろ、普天間飛行場を離陸。午後三時十五分ごろから約二十分間に、高知県本山町や愛媛県新居浜市別子山などの上空を東から西に通過する様子が目撃された。
 和歌山県から愛媛県にかけてのいわゆる「オレンジルート」だ。
 オスプレイは操縦ミスで度々墜落し、安全性に疑念が残る軍用機である。それを、かつて米国防長官が「世界一危険」と指摘し、日米両政府が日本側への返還で合意した米軍基地に強行配備する非合理性をまず指摘せねばなるまい。
 在日米軍基地の約74%は沖縄県に集中する。騒音や事故、米兵の犯罪など基地負担に苦しむ沖縄県民が、オスプレイ配備による負担の上乗せに反対するのも当然だ。
 その沖縄県民の負担を、沖縄以外の都道府県がオスプレイの訓練を受け入れることで軽減できるのなら、まだ意味がある。しかし、本土での訓練は全体から見ればごく一部であり、日数も限られる。負担の分かち合いには程遠い。
 さらに今回、米軍から防衛省に連絡があったのは六~八日という日程や大まかな訓練内容だけという。その訓練ルートも開始前日、急きょ変更が通告された。詳細が分からず、安全性にも不安がある中で、訓練を受け入れろというのは、どだい無理な話だ。
 そもそもオレンジルートを含めて、米軍の低空飛行訓練のルートは、日米安保条約と地位協定に基づいて日本が提供した施設・区域でも訓練空域でもない。米側が独自に設定し、日本側も条約上やむを得ないと黙認したものである。
 日本国民の頭の上を外国の軍用機が縦横無尽に飛び回る。県民の願いむなしく、沖縄の基地負担は一向に減らない。日米政府間で合意したオスプレイの飛行ルールすら守られない。これが安倍晋三首相が高らかに復活を宣言した日米同盟の姿なのか。
 こうした不正常な状況を正さなければ、日米安保体制を「アジア太平洋地域の平和と繁栄の要石」(オバマ米大統領)とすることは難しい。オスプレイの本土での訓練開始は、日米安保条約の意味をも考える機会とせねばならない。
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