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Japan gov't to file fresh lawsuit against Okinawa over U.S. base relocation

Xinhua, July 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Japanese government said Thursday that it will file a fresh lawsuit against Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga over the planned relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma base within Okinawa.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga notified Onaga in a meeting Thursday in Tokyo that the government would file the suit with the Naha branch of the Fukuoka High Court on Friday.

The government aimed to seek the court's confirmation that Onaga acted illegally in not complying with a state order to retract his revocation of the former governor's permission for the landfill work of the air base relocation, said Suga at a press conference.

Onaga told reporters later that a fresh lawsuit would be "extremely deplorable" and that Okinawa "will consider what to do as soon as we receive the complaint."

Onaga, firm on his electoral stance, revoked last October his predecessor's permission for the landfill work of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma's relocation from densely-populated Ginowan to Henoko coastal area of Nago within the prefecture.

Political wrangling escalated since then, with the central government suing Okinawa and the latter in turn counter-suing, until a settlement deal was reached in March under mediation of the Naha branch of the Fukuoka High Court.

According to the settlement deal, the construction work related to the relocation was halted, while the central and prefectural governments held talks and awaited a final ruling to be made by an arbitration panel under the internal affairs ministry.

However, the panel issued its judgment in June with no clear conclusion, only urging the two sides to hold more "sincere discussions."

Following the panel's judgment in June, Okinawa Prefecture has said it would not file a fresh lawsuit against the central government.

Onaga, along with the majority of people in Okinawa, called for the Futenma base to be moved outside the southern island prefecture, which hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan.

The central government, however, said that relocation to Henoko within the prefecture is the only way to eliminate the hazards of the densely-populated Ginowan location while maintaining the Japan-U.S. security alliance. Endit