Defense Ministry Counters Okinawa’s Move to Block Base Plan

October 17, 2018

Tokyo- The Japanese Defense Ministry took steps on Wednesday to counter Okinawa Prefecture's withdrawal of approval for landfill work necessary for the relocation of a U.S. military base within the southernmost prefecture.

The ministry's Okinawa Defense Bureau filed a request for a review of the prefectural government's move to block the relocation, under the administrative complaint review act.

In addition, the bureau filed a petition for a pause to invalidate the withdrawal until a decision is made on the request. Land minister Keiichi Ishii accepted both the request and the petition.

Earlier on Wednesday, Okinawa Deputy Governor Kiichiro Jahana told reporters at the Okinawa prefectural office in Naha, "We have to take action as a prefecture if it (the central government) moves for a pause."

If Ishii decides to approve the petition, the Okinawa prefectural government apparently plans to file for an examination by the committee for settling national-local disputes, a third-party body of the internal affairs ministry. The possible approval by Ishii may put the central and Okinawa governments in a legal battle again.

Asked why the central government did not file the petition with a court, Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters in Tokyo that the latest decision reflects "hopes to resolve the urgent issue as swiftly as possible and achieve a goal."

Iwaya said that it took some time for the bureau to take action as the central government "needed to examine (the prefectural government's claim) sufficiently and carefully." The Okinawa government withdrew the landfill approval in late August.

Iwaya said that in deciding the timing of steps to counter the prefecture's move, the central government "did not take into consideration" potential effects on the September gubernatorial election in Okinawa.

The latest moves by the central government are likely to provoke a backlash from Okinawa people, following the landslide victory by Denny Tamaki, who opposes the base relocation, in the closely watched governor race.

Under a Japan-U.S. agreement, the central government plans to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station, located in a congested area in the Okinawa city of Ginowan, to the less populated Henoko coastal district in Nago, also in Okinawa.

Opposing the relocation, Tamaki wants the Futenma base to be moved out of the prefecture altogether.

In October 2015, then Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga decided to cancel the landfill approval made by his predecessor, Hirokazu Nakaima. But the landfill work resumed after the Supreme Court ruled the cancellation illegal in December 2016.

After the prefecture's subsequent withdrawal of the landfill approval, in line with the wishes of Onaga, the landfill work has been suspended due to insufficient legal grounds. Onaga passed away in August this year.

The central government is set to restart the landfill work swiftly if the bureau petition for a pause of the withdrawal is approved. Jiji Press