Can the Japanese Government Suspend US Military Drills at Naha Air Base?

Published in Okinawa Times
(Japan) on 9 February 2022
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Dorothy Phoenix. Edited by Gillian Palmer.
Starting on Feb. 8, the U.S. Marines stationed at the Naha Air Base began conducting exercises there. For the citizens in the nearby urban areas, the large-scale drills, just a stone’s throw away from Naha Airport, are triggering great anxiety. The training should be suspended at once.

According to the Marines, 250 people from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is focused on humanitarian aid and civilian evacuations, are participating, and four types of aircraft, including Ospreys and large-scale CH-53 helicopters, as well as naval transport ships have been included in the exercises.

This marks the first time that the 31st MEU has performed such exercises at the Naha Air Base. From Feb. 9, the drills will be in full swing, and it could possibly be that they will extend even into late night and early morning hours.

At around 10:00 a.m. on the first day of the exercises, a CH-53 helicopter landed at the Naha Air Base, and camouflaged soldiers with weapons in hand alighted one by one. Barbed wire surrounded the facility’s buildings; from the side of the road, the figures of troops holding rifles at the ready were visible.

A citizens' group protested the exercises from across the fence. An air of tension, calling to mind urban warfare, enveloped the area.

While the prefecture and the city of Naha demand the exercises be canceled, the drills are still being enforced. Neither the prefecture nor the city received prior notification or explanation from the U.S. military or the government.

It is written in the “5-15 Memorandum,” which establishes the requirements for military bases in Okinawa, that Naha Air Base’s intended use is as a “port facility and oil depot.”* However, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno has stated that he believes that “training that is assumed to use the port” does not contradict the stipulations.

It is troubling to try to understand what actually would be considered a violation of the stipulations. If this training is considered acceptable, the result could be that any type of exercises would be permitted. It is clear that these exercises are outside the scope of intended use. Endlessly expanding the drills without regard for the sentiments of local residents will impose a new burden related to the base.

The last time the Naha Air Base had such vigorous use was back in the 1960s, during the Vietnam War. After that time, the most important port functionalities were shifted to Naval Base White Beach. The number of arrivals at the port had been decreasing since 1988, shifting to about 10 to 30 per year. Since 2003, the U.S. military has been concealing its actual usage of the facilities, without any official announcement.

The training exercises at the formerly idle Naha Air Base have caused strong anxiety for local residents. Training at such small-scale facilities near an urban area increases the risk of the exercises.

Before Ospreys were deployed in 2012, the U.S. military had shown training plans for 69 landing zones and the environmental effects. The Naha Air Base was not included in those plans.

It was not assumed that Osprey training drills would occur at Naha. Training facilities for functions such as civilian evacuation are also available inside and outside the prefecture. Is it necessary for exercises to take place at Naha Air Base, which is situated so close to an urban area?

In November of last year, when an Osprey arrived by air to Naha for transportation back to the U.S., the prefecture demanded that the base not be used for takeoffs and landings, because that would be outside the intended use of the base.

This time, there is strong concern that the Naha Air Base will be permanently used for training itself, not just transporting aircraft.

Can we assume that the training is for a possible crisis in Taiwan? If there is a crisis, there also would be the fear that Nansei Islands could become a battleground. Even so, the expansion and intensification of U.S. military exercises is completely unacceptable to local residents, who are bearing the brunt of the burdens from the base.

*Editor's Note: This quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.


[米軍 那覇軍港で訓練]歯止めかけぬ政府とは

米軍那覇港湾施設(那覇軍港)で、8日から在沖海兵隊による訓練が始まった。那覇空港から目と鼻の先、市街地に位置する場所での大規模な訓練は住民に与える不安も大きい。即刻、中止すべきだ。

 海兵隊によると訓練は人道支援や非戦闘員退避などを目的に第31海兵遠征部隊(31MEU)250人が参加、オスプレイやCH53大型ヘリなど4機種、海軍の輸送艇も投入する。

 31MEUが、那覇軍港でこうした訓練をするのは初めてのことだ。9日から訓練は本格化し、深夜早朝に及ぶ可能性もあるという。

 訓練初日の午前10時ごろ、那覇軍港にCH53ヘリが着陸し、武器を手にした迷彩服姿の兵士が次々と降り立った。施設内の建物を囲むように有刺鉄線が張り巡らされ、国道沿いからは、ライフル銃を構える隊員の姿が見えた。

 市民団体がフェンスを挟んで訓練に抗議。辺りは市街戦を想起させる緊張感に包まれた。

 県や那覇市が訓練中止を求める中での強行である。米軍や国からは、事前に県や市への通知も説明もなかった。

 在沖米軍基地の使用条件を定めた「5・15メモ」は、那覇軍港の使用目的を「港湾施設および貯油所」と記している。だが、松野博一官房長官は「港湾の使用が想定される訓練」などと使用目的に反しない、との考えを示した。

 何が反していないのか理解に苦しむ。これが、認められれば、どんな訓練でもできるようになってしまう。目的外使用は明らかだ。地元感情を無視した歯止めのなき訓練拡大は、新たな基地負担を強いるものだ。


 那覇軍港が活発に使用されたのは、1960年代のベトナム戦争時にさかのぼる。その後軍港機能は、ホワイトビーチに比重を移してきた。那覇軍港への入港数は88年以降減少傾向で、ほぼ年間10~30隻台で推移していた。2003年以降は米軍が公表せず、使用実態は隠されたままだ。

 遊休化していた那覇軍港での訓練は、地域住民に強い不安を与える。

 都市部で面積が小さい施設での訓練は危険性も高まる。

 12年のオスプレイ配備に先立ち米軍は、県内69カ所の着陸帯について訓練計画や環境への影響を示した。その中に那覇軍港は含まれていない。

 オスプレイの那覇軍港での訓練は、想定されていなかった。非戦闘員退避訓練などに対応する訓練施設は県内外にもある。市街地に位置する那覇軍港で訓練する必然性はあるのか。


 昨年11月、米本国に船で輸送されるオスプレイが那覇軍港に飛来した際、県は目的外使用として、離着陸しないように求めた。

 今回は機体の輸送ではなく、訓練自体が目的で、那覇軍港の使用が、恒常化することを強く、危惧する。

 台湾有事などを想定した訓練ではないか。有事となれば、南西諸島が戦場となる恐れも出てくる。米軍の訓練の拡大強化は、今でも過重な基地負担に苦しむ県民には到底受け入れられない。

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