U.S. base construction work in Okinawa resumes after virus hiatus
13 June, 2020
Construction do the job for the relocation of an integral U.S. military basic within Okinawa Prefecture resumed Friday, almost two months following the impact of the brand new coronavirus pandemic suspended territory reclamation work essential for the controversial project.
The resumption prompted an anti-U.S. basic protest among local occupants, some scuffling with law enforcement, as activists had been angered by the restart, which arrived despite a bloc opposed to the transfer program of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma retaining a majority in Sunday's Okinawa prefectural assembly election.
The landfill work for an upgraded facility in the Henoko coastal district in Nago was suspended on April 17, a day after a worker at the construction site was confirmed to really have the coronavirus.
The neighborhood bureau of the Defense Ministry said Thursday construction work at the site next to the U.S. Marines' Camp Schwab was prepared to resume after producing plans with U.S. forces and contractors to possess virus infections control measures put in place.
On Friday morning, about 40 protesters wearing deal with masks gathered before the gate of Camp Schwab, calling for the construction function to be stopped.
"Personally i think angry that the central government is going in advance with the engineering, ignoring the results of the (prefectural assembly) election," said Kinuyo Inagaki, 70, who lives in Nago.
Following Sunday's election, 27 of the 48-member prefectural assembly are against the plan to build the substitute facility in Nago, while 19 assist it. The rest of the two do not participate in either camp.
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki, a strong opponent of the relocation program, explained at a press meeting the resumption of the development work was "extremely regrettable."
Tamaki said the assembly election effect "again obviously showed" the Okinawa people's can against the transfer approach.
Frustrated with noise, crashes and crimes linked to the base, local citizens of Okinawa, the southwestern island prefecture hosting the majority of U.S. armed service facilities in Japan, possess repeatedly displayed their opposition in past elections to keeping the Futenma bottom within Okinawa.
The September 2018 gubernatorial race, where Tamaki beat his rival backed by Primary Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Get together, and a prefectural referendum in February this past year showed more than 70 percent of voters were against the relocation.
But the referendum direct result was nonbinding and the Abe administration has upheld the program, saying it is "the only alternative" to removing risks posed by the U.S. base found in a densely populated home spot in Ginowan, without impairing the deterrence of the Japan-U.S. reliability alliance.
Source: japantoday.com
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