Okinawa base plan met with protest

TOKYO - Tens of thousands of people rallied on Saturday in Naha, capital of the Okinawa prefecture in Japan, to protest against the central government's plan to relocate a US military base in the island.

Opponents of the relocation say the plan to move US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from a crowded neighborhood to a less populated coastal site would not only be an environmental debacle but also ignore local wishes to remove the base entirely.

A moment of silence was observed for late Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga, who died of cancer last week and had been a prominent campaigner against the plan.

Deputy Governor Kiichiro Jahana, who has been carrying out the duties of governor, said that he would follow Onaga's suit and continue with the procedures to retract a previous government's approval for landfill work.

In October 2015, Onaga revoked approval issued by former governor Hirokazu Nakaima for the work.

However, he was forced to withdraw his order the following year after a ruling by the Supreme Court.

Before being hospitalized last week, Onaga had ordered procedures to be started again to remove approval for the work, which was seen as a last resort to stop the relocation plan.

"I will take whatever measures and do my utmost to realize my election pledge of preventing the construction of a new base," Onaga told a news conference on July 27. He died on Wednesday at the age of 67.

Japan's government says the current plan is the only solution, but many Okinawans want the base off the island. About half of the 50,000 US troops in Japan are stationed on Okinawa.

Onaga had said Tokyo's postwar defense posture under the Japan-US security alliance was built on Okinawa's sacrifice.

The dispute over the relocation reflects centuries-old tensions between Okinawa and the Japanese mainland, which annexed the islands, formerly the independent kingdom of the Ryukus, in 1878. Okinawa was Japan's only home battleground in the final days of World War II, and the island remained under US rule for 20 years longer than the rest of Japan.

Okinawa is still forced to sacrifice for the interest of the mainland, Onaga's son Takeharu, an Okinawa assemblyman, told the rally.

"The (relocation issue) is pushed to Okinawa because nobody on the mainland wants it," he said, urging the rest of the country to also think about the issue. "Let us keep fighting so we can achieve my father's unfinished goal and give him good news."

Xinhua - AP