Spotlight: Tension reignited between Japan's central gov't, Okinawa

Conflicts were reignited between Japanese central government and Okinawa Prefecture, as the former sought to push ahead a widely-opposed U.S. air base relocation plan by filing a fresh lawsuit on Friday, while resuming construction of helipads for U.S. military in the prefecture despite strong local opposition.

The Japanese government filed a fresh lawsuit against Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga with the Naha branch of the Fukuoka High Court on Friday, seeking the court's confirmation that Onaga acted illegally in not complying with a state order to retract his revocation of former governor's permission for the landfill work of the Futenma air base relocation.

The lawsuit will reopen a legal battle between the central and prefectural governments, which was first ignited last year when the two governments sued each other over the issue, and was halted in March when a settlement deal was reached under court mediation.

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

However, the arbitration panel failed to reach a conclusion in June and only urged the two sides to hold more "sincere discussions."

During a negotiation meeting attended by the two sides Thursday, Okinawa indicated that it would not file a fresh lawsuit, while the central government said it would take the issue to court again, in an apparent effort to push forward the relocation work.

The central government's top spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Friday that the government is fulfilling its obligations under the terms of the March settlement by proceeding with the lawsuit.

But for Okinawa Governor Onaga, what the central government has done "is far from how a democracy should be," for it "fiercely proceeded" with the construction of the replacement facility in Okinawa despite strong opposition from local people.

Meanwhile, the Japanese central government also resumed on Friday the construction work of a number of helipads for the U.S. military in Okinawa, a move further adding fuel to the local people's resentment and anger and widening the rift between the central and prefectural governments.

Early Friday morning, some 100 local residents and other protesters gathered in front of the construction site, protesting against the relocation plan and seeking to block the entry of construction workers by lying on the road and parking their cars there.

The protesters also clashed with hundreds of riot police deployed there. Three protesters were reportedly injured and sent to hospital by ambulances, while some others suffered heat strokes.

Onaga criticized the state for restarting the construction of the helipads, calling the move "intolerable."

The United States agreed in 1996 to return to Japan about half of its military training area in northern Okinawa. According to the agreement, the helipads in the area to be returned shall be relocated to the area retained.

Two of the six helipads have already been completed. But the construction work has been halted as residents nearby protested against the plan, citing possible safety and noise problems that could be caused by the helipads.

On July 11, just one day after Japan's upper house election, the Defense Ministry's Okinawa Defense Bureau abruptly started moving construction materials and equipment into the area, stirring up tension in the region.

On Thursday, the Okinawa prefectural assembly demanded the central government to halt the project, citing the local people's concerns on safety and noise, only to be ignored by the central government.

Okinawa hosts some 75 percent of U.S. bases in Japan while accounting for only 0.6 percent of the country's total land mass. Anti-U.S. base sentiment has been high in Okinawa, especially after a former U.S. marine working as a civilian employee at the Kadena Air Base was arrested in May for raping and murdering a local woman.

The anti-U.S. base sentiment as well as local people's discontent with the central government's policy regarding the bases, were manifested in the July 10 upper house election, during which Aiko Shimajiri, the state minister for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs, was defeated by a large margin. Endit