U.S. Marines in Okinawa Crucial Deterrence against Regional Conflict

The collision of a Chinese fishing vessel off the Senkaku Islands was an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of the U.S. Marines in Okinawa.

The number of Marines based in Okinawa is fixed at 18,000, while the actual number at the end of March of this year was 14,879. This accounts for roughly a third of the 53,082 U.S. personnel stationed in Japan. It is made up of infantry, artillery, air transport, logistics and a headquarters.

The forte of the Marine Corps is its mobile readiness that allows it to be rapidly deployed for combat in areas of conflict. While the Marine Corps is capable of civilian rescue operations, it does not have the missiles and ordnance that the Navy and Air Force possess.

The former secretary of the Democratic Party, Ozawa Ichiro, in a display of ignorance, claimed that the “7th Fleet is enough for the U.S. presence in the Far East.” In reality this is not the case. The Marine Corps works in tandem with the Army, Navy and Air Force.

In the Japan-U.S. security strategy, the Japanese Self-Defense Force (land, air, navy) plays the role of the “shield,” and the U.S. forces (Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines) the “lance.” Especially in the island defense of the Nansei Island chain, which includes the Senkakus, the U.S. Marine Corps’ mobility is of utmost importance.

While the possibility of an outright invasion of Japan’s five primary islands is unlikely in the near future, one cannot write off the possibility that Japan’s outlying islands could be occupied by foreign special forces.

A greater possibility is an incident occurring on the Korean Peninsula, the East China Sea or the South China Sea. If there were an incident on the Korean Peninsula, the Marine Corps would deploy to bolster U.S. forces in Korea, and Japan would be a bridgehead for additional forces arriving from the American mainland.

By being in close proximity to potential conflict zones and being based on the geopolitically important Okinawa, the Marine Corps is capable of quickly responding to problems. The fact that most of the 8,000 Marine personnel being moved to Guam are not combat forces is testament to this importance.

Lt. Gen. Edward A. Rice Jr., the departing commander of U.S. forces in Japan, said, “They understand time-distance relationships, they understand the capacity that’s inherent in a Marine Air-Ground Task Force, and it affects every day their thinking about the U.S. presence here, the value of our alliance and the strength of our alliance.” This is a statement that highlights the importance of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Okinawa presence for the prevention of conflict in the region. Furthermore, the Marines in Okinawa would assist in the evacuation of Japanese citizens if conflict were to break out on the Korean peninsula, as well as disaster relief in case of earthquake or tsunami.

Cooperation between the JSDF and the U.S. Marine Corps is crucial in the defense of Japan and the defense of the region, as well as for disaster relief in peacetime. For this reason, it is necessary to continue joint exercises and find and improve problem areas.

Through exercises and consultations, the Japan-U.S. relationship will be imbued with mutual trust, and this will be the basis for deepening of the alliance.

The Kan administration must use all its effort to clarify to Japanese citizens the importance of the U.S. Marine presence in Okinawa for regional deterrence and to implement the relocation of the Futenma Air Station to Henoko.