News Analysis: Japan gov't pushes for base relocation as talks fail in Okinawa but may face legislative blockade

Japan's central government on Tuesday maintained that it would continue with its plans to relocate a controversial U.S. marine base within Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, despite mounting opposition from both the island's locals and officials and following no headway being made on official talks on the stalled issue between central and local governments.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press gathering Tuesday that the central government will go ahead with its plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma air station from the densely populated area of Ginowan to the less crowded Henoko District in Nago, also on Okinawa island, with two runways for the base to be built on land reclaimed from the sea.

Suga reiterated the central government's stance that the relocation of the base represents the best solution for removing the inherent dangers posed by the base currently being located in such a densely populated area and maintained that its relocation sought to alleviate these dangers.

But the move has hit staunch opposition from officials and locals on the island who want the base relocated off the island at a bare minimum and outside of Japan if possible, as they believe that the islanders have shouldered a disproportionate amount of U. S. base hosting and the burdens they bring, in comparison to the mainland and, as such, believe it's fair for the central government to look outside Japan's tiny southern prefecture for a new site to host the base.

Suga's assurances of promoting construction while paying special care to the needs of the locals and the environment likely fell on deaf ears Tuesday as Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga, himself a staunch opponent to the central government's plans to shift the base within the prefecture, said Tuesday he will deliver a speech at the U.N. Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva on Sept. 21 and 22 seeking support to block the base's relocation.

"The base issue of Okinawa has been gaining international attention. I will brief attendees on the basics of the issue," Onaga told local reporters.

Onaga's latest drive to garner more international support to block the central government's plans comes on the heels of failed talks between both central and local governments on the issue, with neither side conceding any ground or willing to make any compromises on Monday, the fifth and final round of talks scheduled between the central and local governments, in a last ditch attempt to find some common ground for both parties to move forward on.

But Suga eventually made it clear to Onaga Tuesday that the central government would proceed with its plans to resume relocation work for the new base as per its original plans, and the month's hiatus, so that the talks could take place, were now officially over.

Having failed to gain any support or understanding from officials on Okinawa, Suga told reporters after the failed talks Tuesday that there was a "big gap" on how to remove the dangers posed by the base and the central government "could not" gain the understanding of the prefecture.

Despite Prime Minister Shinzo Abe being quoted as saying after the deadlock couldn't be broken that the relocation work must recommence at the earliest possible juncture, Onaga told a press gathering that along with the majority of citizens of Okinawa who all oppose the base's move, he will do everything in his power to prevent the relocation going ahead, a comment political watchers interpreted as meaning he would look to rescind prior approval given for the landfill work to begin, meaning the matter would have to be dealt with in court, which would present another sizable hurdle in the central government's path to moving swiftly ahead with the reconstruction plans.

On August. 10, the central government suspended all preparatory work for land reclamation and other construction plans connected to the relocation of the base with Suga saying that all work would be suspended for a period of at least one month to allow for officials from the central government and prefectural officials from Okinawa to exchange views on the contentious relocation of the base.

Onaga, along with the Nago municipal office, however, may well push ahead with planned legal and legislative drives to block the central government's land reclamation work, now the construction suspension has been lifted.

Onaga, since becoming governor in December 2014 on a campaign of vehement opposition to the central government's plans, in line with an accord made with the United States to relocate the base within the island, said that during the deliberations, he will hold off on a move to repeal approval for landfill work based on a legal flaw found in the approval process originally given in December 2013 by his predecessor, former Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima.

Approval for the landfill work, which was previously granted by Nakaima, was found to be flawed by a third-party prefectural panel and Onaga, who has previously expressed his "strong resentment" towards Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Barack Obama's renewed resolve to forge ahead with the unpopular base move, despite the mounting local opposition, may as of Tuesday, be planning to force the central government to take the case to court and try to argue that the correct measures were mandated to protect the local environment of Nago's pristine Henoko coastal region, the site of the new base, sources close to Onaga confirmed.

Court action would ensure that the central government will not be able to proceed with its plans to relocate the base, fortifying the southernmost prefecture's campaign against the move and, even if the flaws are revoked, will significantly delay if not derail the central government's contentious plans.

In addition, the prefectural assembly in Okinawa, as it continues to fortify itself with growing public opposition and legislative blockades, has passed an ordinance to further impede the central government that will govern the use of soil transported from outside the southern island prefecture and potentially prevent non-indigenous soil from being used in landfill work necessary for the preparation of the coastal Henoko site to accommodate the construction of the replacement facility for the base.

The new injunction, which could come into effect as early as November, will require contractors bringing in soil from outside Okinawa to report the specifics of the earth to local officials, such as its origins and composition, and what has been described by local media as "countermeasures against alien species," two months in advance of its planned transportation.

While the central government has earmarked plans to purchase more than 20 million square meters of soil from prefectures around the mainland, as well as from the island itself, Okinawans and a growing number of citizens from the mainland have taken to the streets to voice their disapproval.

The people of Okinawa do not support the plan to relocate the air base and owing to Onaga, Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine -- whose city will potentially host the new airbase and is also a staunch opponent to the relocation -- and other officials and the public, Washington has voiced its concern that the base's relocation will, once again, be considerably delayed, as has been the case under previous administrations here, which has irked the United States, as the central government continues to try and appease its ally by giving its assurances that the relocation and construction of the new base will go ahead as planned.

Abe, whose popularity has plummeted following his forcing of unconstitutional war bills through the lower house of parliament in a bid to expand the nation's military scope, has said that the building of a new base partly on reclaimed land from the waters of Oura Bay in the coastal Henoko region of Okinawa, remains the only solution for the relocation of the Futenma base, but Onaga has repeatedly said that the plans are unacceptable and that the government is "overly fixated" on the base's relocation to Henoko as being the only solution and should be "more empathetic" to the base hosting burdens of the Okinawa people.

In 1996 the Japanese and U.S. governments inked an accord to close down the Futenma base, located in the crowded Ginowan district in Okinawa and return land occupied by the facility to Okinawa, with the transfer of the base's functions aimed, partly, at reducing the burden on Okinawa, which already hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan.

Despite Abe and Obama's commitment to relocate the base within the island, as was reconfirmed during a summit between the two leaders in April, the impasse between the central and prefectural governments will be a growing source of concern to Washington who has said that the base's relocation should ideally be predicated on the acceptance and understanding of the local people of Okinawa.

Local protesters maintain that acceptance and understanding of the central government's position will almost certainly never be granted, and have been quoted as saying that their ongoing demonstrations mark "the beginning" of an unbounded battle to see the base's relocation squashed and, reflected a growing feeling of mistrust on the island towards the central government's continued disregard of local people's feelings in favor of constantly kowtowing to the United States. Endi