April 5, 2010The Japanese government is considering relocating U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to an offshore area of White Beach in Uruma, Okinawa Prefecture, apparently because there appears to be little resistance from the local community and the U.S. had previously expressed support for the plan.
"The population of the area is rapidly declining. The prices of mozuku (a kind of seaweed grown in the area) have sharply fallen, and most of the farmland has been abandoned," says Tsuyoshi Gibu, mayor of the neighboring town of Kin. "I guess the national government believes that there is little resistance from the local community."
Moreover, an unofficial message Washington has sent to Tokyo, which expressed support for the White Beach plan, has encouraged Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano to press forward with the proposal.
Hirano has secretly met with Robert Eldridge, a high-ranking policymaker with U.S. Marine Corps Bases of Okinawa, on several occasions since February, and has been convinced through their talks that Washington is in favor of the White Beach plan.
Eldridge has been working with Norio Ota, honorary president of the Okinawa Chamber of Commerce and Industry -- who helped work out the detailed plan to relocate Futenma base to an offshore area of White Beach -- for five years.
Policymaker Eldridge served as an interpreter when Ota visited Hawaii in August 2005, and met with Wallace Gregson, then commander of the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific, to propose the plan. At the time, Gregson, who now serves as assistant secretary of defense, described the proposal as the best plan.
Eldridge learned that the administration of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was reviewing the original plan to relocate Futenma base to the Henoko district of Nago, and paid close attention to Ota's proposal.
He conducted a follow-up study and published a report on Sept. 24, 2005, calling for the moving of Futenma to White Beach. Specifically, he proposed that Air Station Futenma, Camp Kinser in Urasoe, U.S. Army facilities at Naha Port and the Air Self-Defense Force's Naha base be shifted to an area off Yokatsu Peninsula where White Beach is situated.
Under the plan, Eldridge pointed out that: aircraft would fly above the sea, and not over residential areas, that it would not take a long time to build the facility, that it would minimize the impact on the environment and provide the Uruma Municipal Government with additional financial resources. He then emphasized that there are about 30 advantages in total over the Henoko plan.
Moreover, he stressed that the construction of a base to be jointly used by U.S. forces and Japan's Self-Defense Forces (SDF) would lead to the reduction and integration of bases in Okinawa, and lead to the revitalization of the local economy.
Eldridge urged then Prime Minister Koizumi and his aides to support the plan, and explained it to officials with the Defense Agency, which is now the Defense Ministry. However, the Koizumi administration did not seriously consider the plan.
Eldridge told a former high-ranking officer of the Ground Self-Defense Force on Jan. 20 this year that he still believed that the White Beach plan is the best option.
Hirano sympathized with Eldridge's assertion that the integration of U.S. and Japanese bases in Okinawa into the area off White Beach would help lessen congestion at Naha Airport jointly used by civilian airlines and the SDF and ease traffic snarls on Route 58.
However, talks between Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in Washington late last month poured cold water on Hirano's enthusiasm about the plan.
Gates got furious at Okada for not providing an explanation of the plan previously agreed upon between the two countries to relocate Futenma base to an offshore area of Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, which Washington officially views as the best plan, according to diplomatic sources.
Okada responded that the plan, agreed upon between the previous government led by the Liberal Democratic Party and the United States, is difficult to implement.
A senior member of the ruling coalition said he believes that Washington wants to retain Futenma base.
"The United States views the Eldridge proposal as an ideal plan, but knows that it is infeasible considering the political situation in Okinawa. Washington apparently thinks it'd be desirable if all relocation plans fail and Futenma is retained," he said.
Click here for the original Japanese story
(Mainichi Japan) April 5, 2010
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