Japan to ease Okinawa's burden for hosting US bases

Source :  Globaltimes.cn

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday that his government will seek to relieve the burden of Okinawa Prefecture for hosting the bulk of US bases in Japan, local media reported.

Speaking at the first council meeting on Okinawa affairs, Abe said the government will make "all-out" efforts to ease the southernmost prefecture's burdens, while maintaining a US military deterrence in the region by station in the prefecture, according to Japan's Kyodo News Agency.

Abe also vowed to promote local development, saying the prefecture has potentials that could become a "driving force in revitalizing the Japanese economy," Kyodo cited Abe as saying.

Relations between Okinawa prefectural government and Japan's central government chilled due to the relocation issue of the US Futenma Air Base.

Despite strong opposition from local residents and government, Japan and the United States agreed during Abe's meeting with US President Barack Obama last month that to proceed with the plan that to move the air base within the prefecture.

According to the plan, the Futenma base will be moved to a less- populated area in Okinawa, which hosts more than 70 percent of US base in Japan, from its current location, a crowed residential downtown.

Okinawa residents want the base to be moved outside the prefecture.

At a press conference after the meeting, Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima also expressed his reluctance to attend the ceremony of "the Sovereignty Restoration Day" on April 28, saying it was called as "day of insult" in Okinawa.

On April 28, 1952, Japan recovered its sovereignty but Okinawa was still under US control until it was returned to Japan in 1972.

Japanese PM prepares for war: Links Falklands conflict with Senkaku

Source : StratRisks

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose country is in conflict with China over islets in the East China Sea, cited former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s reflections on the 1982 Falkland Islands war to stress the importance of the rule of law at sea. During a speech to parliament on Thursday, Abe said Japan’s national interests “lie in making the seas, which are the foundation of our nation’s existence, completely open, free and peaceful,” the Telegraph reported.

The Japanese Prime Minister, who took office in December, quoted Thatcher’s memoirs reflecting the Falkland Islands war, in which she said Britain was defending the fundamental principle that international law should prevail over the use of force, according to Reuters.

“Looking back at the Falkland Islands conflict, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said the following: ‘The rule of international law must triumph over exertion of force,’” the Wall Street Journal quoted Abe as saying to his fellow lawmakers.

Thatcher rallied Britain to support the 74-day armed conflict, which started when Argentine troops landed on the Falkland Islands on April 2, 1982. It drew skepticism at the time from other British leaders — and some British allies, who didn’t think the territory was worth defending after Argentina seized control, according to the Wall Street Journal. The conflict killed about 650 Argentine and 255 British troops.

(MORE: History Threatens Repeat in Renewed Pacific War)

Abe continued in his own words: “The rule of law at sea. I want to appeal to international society that in modern times changes to the status quo by the use of force will justify nothing.” Ties between Tokyo and Beijing have been shaky after the Japanese government last September bought three of the five islands in the East China Sea, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. The islands are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China.

(MORE: Chinese View of Islands Conflict: ‘Make It Quick’)

An escalation in tensions in the territorial dispute has raised fears of an unintended military incident near the islands, where both countries’ militaries have each started to mobilize in the surrounding area, the Wall Street Journal pointed out. The U.S. has said the islets fall under a U.S.-Japan security pact, but “Washington is keen to avoid a clash in the economically vital region,” theTelegraph reported. Abe reiterated in his speech that the islands are Japanese territory and urged Beijing not to escalate tensions. However, he added that Sino-Japanese relations were vital for Japan and that he was always willing to a discussion.