It is sheer folly for Japan to pay costs of relocating U.S. Marines

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

It is sheer folly for Japan to pay costs of relocating U.S. Marines

Akahata editorial

Japan’s Defense Ministry budget request for the next fiscal year starting on April 1, 2009 includes an expenditure for the relocation of 8,000 U.S. Marines to the U.S. territory of Guam in the South Pacific from Okinawa. The ministry also plans to station its staff in Hawaii, the stronghold of the U.S. Pacific Forces.

The United States has agreed to relocate U.S. Marines to Guam on condition that a new U.S. base is constructed in Okinawa. However, facing opposition from

70 percent of Okinawans, the base construction plan has made no progress.

We must not allow the relocation plan to be carried out in disregard of the will of Okinawans. It is natural for Japanese people to express their anger at the government plan to pay the costs for the U.S. Marines relocation to Guam that will be carried out in tandem with the construction of a new U.S. base.

Japan is even considering additional payments

The Japanese government has explained that the relocation of U.S. Marines to Guam will reduce Okinawa’s burden in hosting U.S. bases. This is untrue.

There are a number of large-scale projects going on under the U.S. military transformation and realignment plan promoted by the Bush administration. Their aim is to turn Guan, which has been virtually idle since the end of the Vietnam War, into a major strategic base capable of quickly projecting U.S. forces to any place throughout the world. A reinforced U.S. base in Guam, closely linked to Okinawa and Hawaii, will be nothing less than a new source of threats to peace in Asia and the rest of the world.

Japan’s promise to pay the cost for the relocation to Guam helped to activate this costly military construction project in Guam.

As the government has admitted in the Diet, no country but Japan has ever used tax money to construct military bases for a foreign country. Under the pretext of responding to the acute demand of Okinawans that their burden in hosting the U.S. bases be removed, the Japanese government is willing to offer tax money for the construction of U.S. military facilities in Guam. This is absolutely unacceptable.

What is more, the United States has increased its estimate of the total cost of the construction project, making it very likely that Japan will be asked to pay more than what was initially estimated.

In their agreement in May 2006, the Japanese and U.S. governments estimated that the U.S. military construction on Guam would cost about 10.27 billion dollars with Japan providing 6 billion dollars. Later, the United States increased its estimate by 4.7 billion dollars to 15 billion dollars, apparently with the aim of procuring high-speed ships capable of transporting more than 1,000 troops and equipment to war-zones at a time as well as furniture and office items for the base, and improving the training facilities on the Mariana Islands. The U.S. Congress reportedly is reluctant to approve the increase in the cost. It may be correct to say that the U.S. government is counting on Japan’s additional burden sharing.

The problem is the Japanese government. In answer to a question by Japanese Communist Party representative Akamine Seiken at a House of Representatives Anti-terrorism Special Committee meeting on October 20, Defense Minister Hamada Yasukazu stated, “There are discrepancies between what’s going on and the plan Japan presented, making it necessary for Japan to discuss the matter with the United States.” Hamada did not say that Japan would reject the U.S. request for Japan to pay more for the relocation, much less oppose Japan’s burden sharing on the project. It is this servile attitude of the Japanese government that prompted the United States to force Japan to pay more for the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan.

Care for the Japanese people

The government has added to the hardships of the people by carrying out cutbacks in expenditures for social services, education, and other programs the public needs, under the pretext of budget shortfalls.

No one can deny that the Japanese government is going to expend there trillion yen for the U.S. military realignment, including the relocation of U.S. forces to Guam, by further slashing expenditures on social programs affecting living conditions.

The government must end its servile policy of fulfilling the needs of the U.S. forces at the cost of the Japanese public. - Akahata, October 29, 2008