16:04, April 20, 2010
About 15,000 people converged on Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, one of the U.S air base candidate sites, on Sunday, April 18, to protest against a proposal by the Japanese government to relocate a U.S. Marine Base. This big rally was held in the Kagoshima Prefecture and, among the participants of the rally at a port in the town of Tokunoshima were town mayors Amagi and Isen.
At a morning press conference on Monday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Bown Hirano noted that Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama would make a possible inspection tour of the island to personally explain to local government and residents on the relocation intentions. Although the late May deadline for Hatoyama to make the final decision is drawing near and near, the approaches of the parties are still apart to balance, and so the issue has landed his cabinet in an awkward position.
Owing to a strong public opposition to the relocation program, the Hatoyama Cabinet even felt it difficult to take a step further. Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of approximately 25,000 people, and three towns under its jurisdiction and the Kagoshima Prefectural Assembly have passed a motion against the Marine base relocation.
The message to Prime Minister Yuko Hatoyama was clear and definite. After the Sunday gathering, Isencho Mayor Akira Okubo took a potshot at Hatoyama. He told media that most residents of Tokunoshima Island did not agree to the relocation, claiming that “none of us need to see government personnel, either the prime minister or others people.”
“People of all ages were seen at the Sunday rally, and some local media polls conducted over last week indicate up to 90 percent of the island’s residents would oppose hosting Futenma.”
The United States has also resisted Prime Minister Hatoyama Cabinet’s relocation program. After Hatoyama promised to make the final decision before the end of May, the U.S. insisted that the Japan-U.S. military restructure agreement inked in 2006 was "still valid" and claimed to the original plan to relocate the Futenma Air Station to Camp Schwab in Nago city in the coastal area.
Hatoyama has promised to U.S. President Barack Obama that he’ll settle Futinma issue by the end of May. The relocation of the Futenma Air Station was planned by the U.S. military well before the SACO Agreement. They began to construct a military port of Camp Kinsev in Urasoe and an airport off Henoko in Nago.
At an informal summit held in Washington D.C. Monday, President Obama expressed no confidence in Hatoyama, and it was also a symbol of stalemate on relocation of the U.S. military air station at Futenma. In fact, this move of President Obama’s is also tantamount to his refusal to make any concessions, though Hatoyama has pinned much hope on him to resolve the issue.
Apart from selecting the relocation of candidate sites and the U.S. attitude on the issue, politicians in Japan have differing voices on the issue. First, the Liberal Democratic Party has resolutely opposed to the plan, and accused the Democratic Party of shaking or undermining the Japan-U.S. diplomacy and this may negatively affect economic ties and other bilateral relations and meting out a telling blow to the Japan-U.S. alliance.
Second, the rift or strife will come from within the ruling party. The Social Democratic Party suggests if that the Japanese prime minister cannot honor the promise of displacing the Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture. The SPD said it would not hesitate to quit the ruling coalition. Finally, the Democratic members of the Congress are openly opposed to the Tokunoshima Island as the prime candidate site for relocation.
Meanwhile, the U.S. side urged the Japanese government to relocate functions of the Futenma Air Station to Nago city under a bilateral agreement. Moreover, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reportedly said on Monday that the support rate for the current Japanese cabinet was continuing to decline and, with regard to the Futenma issue, 51 percent of respondents held that the Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama should step down because he has not been on track to settle the relocation issue.
By People’s Daily Online and contributed by PD resident reporter in Japan Yu Qing
Posts
