Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 15th. Some people in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan held a rally on the 14th to protest the relocation plan of the US military base in Japan. Angry protesters drove rubber boat into the construction site waters and had a brief conflict with the Coast Security Office staff. However, in the face of protests from local people, the construction has not stopped.
Related to the relocation of the US military stationed in Japan, the people of Okinawa Prefecture have been fighting against the Japanese central government for many years. In 1996, the Japanese and American governments agreed to move the Futenma base of the US military stationed in Japan in Yinowan City, Okinawa Prefecture to the Hennoko area of Nago City, the prefecture. Relocation requires land reclamation and two new aircraft runways.
On June 19, 2016, in a park in Naha City, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, citizens held a slogan "Removal (US) Marine Corps " in his hand. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Shen Honghui)
Okinawa people oppose this relocation plan and demand that the Futenma base be completely closed or to move it outside the prefecture. On December 14, 2018, the Japanese central government, despite opposition from the Okinawa people, forcibly launched the land reclamation project required for the relocation of the base in the Hennoko Sea.
Now, on the third anniversary of the project's start, Okinawan people drove ships and rubber boats on the morning of the 14th, holding high slogans such as "opposing the new US military base" and "stop the release of sand and gravel", protesting in the waters near the project, demanding the suspension of construction. Many people also gathered to protest in front of the US military camp in Schwab, near the new address of the base.
During the rally, about 20 rubber boats broke into the restricted area of the land reclamation project, and Japan Coast Security Department dispatched on-duty personnel to intercept it, and the two sides had a brief conflict. Amid the background of protesters shouting slogans such as “stop illegal construction” in unison, sand transport ships and trucks are still operating.
The Okinawa Defense Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Defense said that as of the end of October, the amount of sand and gravel deployed in the above-mentioned project was 1.68 million cubic meters, accounting for about 8% of the total required for the project.
On December 20, 2016, in Tokyo, the capital of Japan, people protested the judgment outside the Supreme Court of Japan. On the same day, the Supreme Court of Japan made a final judgment on the case of the Japanese central government suing the Okinawa Prefecture Government for "illegal stopping" the construction of a new US military base, upholding the first-instance judgment of the Naha Branch of the Fukuoka High Court, and ruled that Okinawa Prefecture lost the case. (Photo by Ma Ping, Xinhua News Agency)
For a long time, US military soldiers stationed in Okinawa have frequently committed crimes, military plane crashes, objects falling from high altitudes and noise harassment, and local people are unbearable. People in Okinawa Prefecture complained that Okinawa's area only accounts for 0.6% of Japan's territory, but it is the location of more than 70% of the US military facilities stationed in Japan.
Okinawa Prefecture held a referendum on the relocation of US military bases in 2019, and more than 70% of the people opposed the central government's promotion of relocation plans.
Regarding the relocation of US military bases, Okinawa Prefecture Governor Danny Tamachi repeatedly called out to the central government, hoping to "talk well." In October last year, Tamaki met with the then Prime Minister, Yoshihide Suga, and proposed to the latter that he opposed the relocation of the US military base to Henoko, hoping that the central government would "find another way out" for this US military base. The two sides eventually parted in disagreement.
New Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida 's position on this issue is consistent with previous prime ministers. When talking about the relocation of US military bases in Japan on the 6th, he said that if we want to ensure that the Japan-US alliance is not damaged, the relocation of Futenma base in Okinawa Prefecture is the "only way". (Zhang Jing)
