Strong-Arming Tokunoshima

Published in Minaminippon Shimbun
(Japan) on 7 April 2010
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Haitham Jendoubi. Edited by Amy Wong.
A proposal has been floated to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma (currently in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture) to Tokunoshima [an island in Kagoshima Prefecture]. It has been revealed that Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano shared this plan with Okinawa Prefectural Governor Hirokazu Nakaima during their meeting on April 1st.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has denied it as “wanton speculation.” However, time is running out for the base to be moved off of Okinawa in time for the administration’s self-imposed deadline (“We will come to a decision by the end of May.”), and it doesn’t seem as though there are any other places to move it.

It is not too much to say that Tokunoshima has been singled out as a result of the administration’s hastiness. It is hard to deny the charge of strong-arming the local residents — to whom nothing has been explained and whose opinions have not been heard.

It has come to light that a legislator of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) was in Tokunoshima in January to glean public opinion about the move. Since then, protests by the government and the people have spread, and the 12 municipalities of the Amami Islands have all adopted measures in opposition to bringing the base there.

Prime Minister Hatoyama has declared that he would not order the base moved there without obtaining local approval, and the United States also insists on this consent as a condition for entering negotiations. It is questionable, then, how likely a move to Tokunoshima is, given the demonstrations and protests going on.

Besides Tokunoshima, Mageshima (part of Nishinoomote City) and the Kanoya Naval Air Base have been identified as candidate locations in Kagoshima Prefecture. The prefectural assembly has adopted an opinion in opposition to moving the base there, and Governor Yuichiro Ito has voiced his opposition as well. However, we would like to see more effort go into gathering accurate information about the possible move and disseminating it to the public.

The plan that the government is mulling over is said to involve moving the Futenma base temporarily to Camp Schwab (the U.S. Marine camp in Nago City, Okinawa Prefecture) and then either to a man-made island off the coast of the Katsuren Peninsula on the eastern coast of the main island of Okinawa or to Tokunoshima.

Late last month, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada presented this idea to U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos. It is a tell-tale sign of the chaos reigning in the administration that he would present Mr. Hirano’s proposal as-is: unfinished.

In addition to U.S. approval, the Futenma relocation must receive the blessing of the ruling coalition partners — the Social Democratic Party and the People’s New Party — who have different expectations than the DPJ. As the prime minister has himself noted, he is faced with a challenge as difficult as “threading rope through a pinhole.”

In order to solve this conundrum, it will be necessary to prioritize the wishes of the local population that will accommodate the base. We cannot force outlying districts to pay for the administration’s dithering.


[普天間移設] 徳之島へはごり押しだ
( 4/7 付 )
 米軍普天間飛行場(沖縄県宜野湾市)の移設問題をめぐり、米海兵隊ヘリ部隊をまず徳之島へ移す案が浮上した。平野博文官房長官が仲井真弘多沖縄県知事と1日に会談し、こうした考えを伝えていたことが分かった。

 鳩山由紀夫首相は「勝手な憶測」と否定している。ただ、「5月末までに結論を出す」と自ら宣言した普天間問題がいよいよ大詰めを迎えているのに、これもこだわる「沖縄県外への移設」を実現する当てがほかにあるふうでもない。

 政権の焦りから徳之島に白羽の矢が立った、との見方はうがちすぎではあるまい。地元への説明がないまま、まして意向も聞かない中で徳之島移設を強行するのは順序が逆で、ごり押しとの批判は免れない。

 徳之島では今年1月、民主党衆院議員が普天間移設の打診をしていたことが明るみになった。それ以来、徳之島では官民挙げた抗議の輪が広がり、奄美群島の全12自治体もそろって移設反対を決議した。

 鳩山首相は地元の了解なしに移設しない考えを明言し、米政府も交渉入りの条件に地元の同意を挙げている。反対運動が起きている徳之島への移設に、実際どれほど実現の見込みがあるのかは疑問だ。

 鹿児島県内では徳之島以外にも西之表市の馬毛島や、海上自衛隊鹿屋航空基地が普天間基地の移設候補地に挙げられてきた。県議会が移設に反対する意見書を可決し、伊藤祐一郎知事も反対を表明したのは当然だが、正確な情報収集と、その公開に一層努めてもらいたい。

 政府が検討している案は、ヘリ部隊をキャンプ・シュワブ陸上部(沖縄県名護市)に暫定的に移し、その後に沖縄本島東岸の勝連半島沖合埋め立てによる人工島か、徳之島に移設するとされてきた。

 先月下旬、岡田克也外相がルース駐日米大使に示したばかりの構想である。平野氏の案が調整不足のまま示されたのは、政府の混乱を物語っている証しだろう。

 普天間移設は米国はもとより、連立政権のパートナーだが思惑の違う社民党、国民新党の了解も得る必要がある。首相も「針穴に、大きな縄を通すぐらい難しい作業」と認めたハードルの高い問題だ。

 この難題を解決するには、何よりも基地を受け入れる地元の意向確認を優先すべきだった。時間を浪費してきたつけを地方に押しつけるようなことがあってはならない。
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