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New Tensions Cloud Deal for Okinawa Base | |
(about 14 hours later) | |
TOKYO — Even as officials on both sides of the Pacific hailed an agreement to resolve a tangled dispute over a Marine base on Okinawa, strong opposition to the deal in Okinawa and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent visit to a war shrine cast a shadow over the diplomatic celebration. | |
Despite the United States’ deep satisfaction with the agreement, a congratulatory telephone call expected Friday between Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and his Japanese counterpart, Itsunori Onodera, was put off, American officials said. | |
The postponement had less to do with complications in Okinawa than with Washington’s concerns over Mr. Abe’s appearance this week at the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors the nation’s war dead, including several war criminals who were executed after Japan’s defeat in 1945. The visit was viewed with alarm by some of the United States’ other allies in the region, especially South Korea, for its glorification of Japanese militarism in the last century. | |
A State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said in a statement that the United States was “disappointed that Japan’s leadership has taken an action that will exacerbate tensions with Japan’s neighbors,” echoing a statement on Thursday by the new American ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy. | |
Still, both American and Japanese officials separately offered high praise for a decision by the governor of Okinawa, Hirokazu Nakaima, to allow landfill work to begin on a new base that would occupy a remote coast on Okinawa’s main island. | |
Mr. Nakaima’s approval came after longstanding opposition on Okinawa to moving the Marine Corps’ Air Station Futenma, which occupies a crowded urban area, to Henoko Bay in Nago, in the north. | |
The move would advance efforts by the Pentagon to rebalance American military forces across the Asia-Pacific region, and by Mr. Abe to raise his country’s strategic posture. Under the plan, the 18,000 Marines now stationed on Okinawa would drop to about 10,000 once the new base was completed over the next decade. | |
Swift and angry opposition from some local leaders in Okinawa, who continue to demand that the base be moved off the island altogether, has raised some questions on how smoothly the relocation can proceed. | |
Much of the ire remains directed not so much at Washington as at Tokyo, and what locals see as the excessive concentration of American bases in Okinawa. Okinawa Prefecture makes up a fraction of Japan’s total land area, but it hosts almost three dozen American military facilities and over half of the 50,000 American service members stationed in Japan. | |
The strongest response came from Susumu Inamine, the mayor of Nago City, near where the new base would be built, which is not far from another American installation, Camp Schwab. He told reporters in Okinawa after the decision that he “definitely opposed” the plan, and said he had told the governor so. | |
Mr. Inamine is up for re-election next month, and how much he will complicate the relocation process will hinge on whether he will prevail over a pro-base candidate backed by Mr. Abe’s party. “The battle lines are now drawn” for the Jan. 19 ballot, Mr. Inamine said. | |
Opponents of the relocation plan have accused Mr. Nakaima of betrayal for his reversal. And on Friday, he himself expressed personal skepticism, saying he also would prefer that the base be moved out of the region. | |
Mr. Nakaima also said he would call for the closing of the old base in five years, even though the plan lays out a relocation that lasts twice as long. | |
“I gave my legal approval,” Mr. Nakaima said at a news conference broadcast live on national television. “But the relocation will not be easy. In fact, I don’t think its feasibility is very high. I think moving the base outside Okinawa is a better plan.” | “I gave my legal approval,” Mr. Nakaima said at a news conference broadcast live on national television. “But the relocation will not be easy. In fact, I don’t think its feasibility is very high. I think moving the base outside Okinawa is a better plan.” |
About 2,000 people gathered at the Okinawa prefectural office to protest Mr. Nakaima’s move. | |
Senior officials in both Japan and the United States had acknowledged that additional hurdles could arise over the 10-year timetable required to replace Futenma with the new base at Henoko Bay. But they took pains after Mr. Nakaima’s ambivalent remarks to point out that the deal was now complete. In Washington, Mr. Hagel released a statement praising the agreement as important to strengthening bilateral relations. He said the approval was “absolutely critical to the United States’ ongoing rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region.” | |
Mr. Hagel also noted that the realignment “will reduce our footprint in the most populated part of Okinawa,” even as it allows for “sustaining U.S. military capabilities vital to the peace and security of the region.” | Mr. Hagel also noted that the realignment “will reduce our footprint in the most populated part of Okinawa,” even as it allows for “sustaining U.S. military capabilities vital to the peace and security of the region.” |
In Tokyo, Mr. Abe thanked Mr. Nakaima for his “brave decision” and pledged that the government would “continue to do what it can to reduce the burden” of the base on local residents. | |
He again defended his visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, saying it was customary for leaders around to pay their respects to their war dead. “I will strive to have them understand that,” he told reporters when asked about the United States’ reaction. | |
The original agreement to move Air Station Futenma was signed in 1996 after the rape of an Okinawan schoolgirl by American servicemen. That crime fueled a local protest movement that advocated ousting the Marines from the islands altogether. Environmentalists also raised concerns about the effects of a new base along a coast known for its rich sea life. | |
Those concerns delayed the agreement. But since his return to the prime minister’s office a year ago, Mr. Abe had pressed Okinawan officials on the deal, offering financial support for the region, and agreeing to measures to reduce some of the burden of American bases on Okinawa. | |
Hiroko Tabuchi reported from Tokyo, and Thom Shanker from Washington. | Hiroko Tabuchi reported from Tokyo, and Thom Shanker from Washington. |