Reconsidering the Futenma Airbase Problem for Sake of the Alliance

Diplomacy being limited by domestic politics is no new thing. Even so, as the situation has become more complicated, there has been no effort to change it.

The issue of relocating the U.S. military’s Futenma Airbase in Okinawa has completely run aground. U.S. Secretary of Defense Panetta‘s recent visit with Japan’s cabinet members assigned to the issue has shown how severe the situation really is.

An issue that was agreed upon at the conference on the Futenma problem, which Minister of Defense Ichikawa attended, was that the relocation of the base to Henoko, Nago City — a decision made jointly by the U.S. and Japan — should be pushed forward as fast as possible.

Japan’s minister of defense told the U.S. that he will be presenting a report to the Okinawa prefecture on the environmental impact the new runway will have. It was reported that the U.S. welcomed such action. But there are no plans after that.

In Japan, all trust has been lost between Okinawa and the administration of the Democratic Party of Japan. The mayor of Nago City is opposed to these measures, and at a prefectural meeting it was agreed upon that they would seek relocation outside of the prefecture or country.

The U.S. government is in a difficult situation. There is a rumored proposal that the Futenma relocation will be coordinated with the relocation expenses of Marine troops to Guam, in order to decrease the large cost.

The Obama administration wants to appeal to the conference that is working for progress on the Futenma problem because he has a budget to protect. This “assessment” is just theatrics. Governments from both the U.S. and Japan seem to have decided to continue to recount the U.S.-Japan agreement as some sort of magical word that will prevent opposition by the U.S. Congress.

The Asia Pacific region is now facing the important topic of how to stably include the new Chinese power into the region. Secretary Panetta underscored the importance of the U.S. presence in the Pacific at a Tokyo press conference when he stated, “We will continue to have force projection in that area, [and] we will continue, not only to maintain but strengthen our presence in this part of the world.”

What political policies are being drafted in relation to China? What role will Japan play? Japan and the United States should make it their first priority to discuss these topics in the near future. However, they cannot begin to get at these issues while the problem of the Futenma Airbase relocation blocks their path to those issues.

As made painfully obvious by the situation in Afghanistan after 10 years, the U.S. military strategies, which rely on their own might, have reached a limit. In this multipolar world, the U.S. cannot escape the fact that their power is relatively small. The U.S. is increasingly turning inward, as can be seen in the conservative grass roots tea party movement.

It is in these times that Japan and American should strive to consider their relationship in this larger framework. In order to do this, they have no choice but to seek a solution that looks beyond Henoko, and that fundamentally reconsiders the Futenma problem.