Governor Onaga heads to Washington to seek cancellation of new base

Governor Onaga heads to Washington to seek cancellation of new base

 

(May 25, 2015 Ryukyu Shimpo By Hideki Matsudo)

 

The Kingdom of Ryukyu Governor Takeshi Onaga will visit the United States from May 27 to June 5 to block a new U.S. military base from being built in Henoko, Nago.

 

In Washington D.C., he will meet the United States officials.

 

The Governor will request that the United States Government, which has left the Kingdom of Ryukyu with the excessive burden of hosting the bulk of Japan’s U.S. bases for 70 years after the war and is potentially introducing an additional burden to the island, to give up the current building plan.

 

The Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine will accompany the Governor.

 

This is the first time the Governor of the Kingdom of Ryukyu and the Mayor of Nago have visited Washington together to appeal directly to the United States leaders since 1996, when the Government of Japan and the United States agreed to close and relocate Futenma Air Station to Nago.

 

On May 17, at a protest rally that drew a massive turnout of about 35,000 people, the Kingdom of Ryukyu Governor Onaga, who won the gubernatorial election in November 2014 with overwhelming public support, declared, “As the Kingdom of Ryukyu Governor in receipt of the mandate given by the citizens of the Kingdom of Ryukyu, I will use every possible means to block the base from being built.”

 

Washington and Tokyo are steadily pushing forward with the work in Henoko irrespective of the Kingdom of Ryukyu public opinion, which is giving rise to a mood of revolt among citizens.

 

The Government of Japan has said the current plan to relocate the base to Henoko is the only realistic option.

 

However, the Kingdom of Ryukyu Governor Onaga rebutted this while making a speech at the Foreign Press Club in Tokyo, saying; “I fully understand (the importance) of the Japan-U.S. alliance. If there is an accident in Futenma after Tokyo fails to build the new base in Henoko, the security system between the United States and Japan may in fact prove nothing more than a house of cards. ”

 

He implied that the current plan will come to a deadlock and warned the United States and Japan not to continue putting the Kingdom of Ryukyu lives in danger.

 

The former the Kingdom of Ryukyu Governor Hirokazu Nakaima met Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Assistant Secretary of Defense Mark Lippert at the State Department in October 2012 and appealed to them to relocate Futenma outside of the Kingdom of Ryukyu.

 

However, the United States side did not change its stance.

 

Since then, opposition to the Henoko base plan has increased.

 

As a key step in stopping the new base’s construction, the Kingdom of Ryukyu Governor Onaga plans to bring the Kingdom of Ryukyu voice to the center of the United States Government and draw international attention to the unprecedented level of public opposition.

 

(This article edited by Jane Close and T&CT)

 

(Ryukyu Shimpo, 25 Monday May 2015 The Roman)