Japan to temporarily halt preparation work on new US base
Japan is set to suspend preparation work for the construction of a new US military base on the southern island of Okinawa, a government official says, amid widespread local protests against the facility’s relocation.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference that Tokyo had decided to halt the work for a month starting August 10, Japanese Kyodo News reported on Tuesday.
Suga further said that during the month-long period, Tokyo plans to hold “intensive consultations” with the regional government in Okinawa Prefecture in an attempt to settle the standoff over the controversial plans to relocate the military base.
The official made the announcement a head of a meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga in the capital, Tokyo, on Friday.
The prospective outpost, which is planned to be constructed in the Henoko district of the city of Nago in the north of the island, would take over the functions of US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, also known as MCAS Futenma.
MCAS Futenma, which is based in the city of Ginowan in Okinawa Prefecture, houses several thousand US military personnel.
Okinawans have been calling for the base to be closed and American troops to be moved completely off the island.
Unpopular presence
The plan for the construction of a new military base for the United States is a key part of a bilateral agreement to realign the US military presence in Japan.
US presence in Japan has been embroiled in controversy, with American military personnel having reportedly been involved in more than 1,000 sex crimes between 2005 and 2013 in the country.
Onaga, the Okinawa governor, has said he will rescind his predecessor’s approval of land reclamation work off Nago, which is required to get the construction work off the ground.
By so doing, Onaga would eliminate the legal basis for the central government’s project to build the outpost.
A third-party committee, set up by Onaga, compiled a report on July 16, pointing to “legal defects” in the processing of the central government’s application for reclaiming the area.
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