No. 1371 Construction Work Started in Oura Bay, Okinawa
The Okinawa Defense Bureau has started a construction work at Oura Bay, Henoko. The office has insisted that a new military base is indispensable in Henoko, Nago City, as an alternative facility of the US Futenma Air Station, located in Ginowan City, to be relocated by the bilateral agreement. This work is the first, following the change in the original design due to the soft seabed found in the area.
DON’T LET GOVERNMENT CONTINUE ILLICIT ACTIONS!
The Ministry of Defense demanded Okinawa Prefecture in 2022 to change the construction work plan as the seabed at the site was found to be soft around Oura Bay. Governor Tamaki Denny had not approved the ministry’s order and the prefecture fought in the lawsuit, which has ended in a loss on the side of Okinawa. In December 2023 the state government accepted the Ministry’s decision to ‘represent’ the Okinawa’s authority by proxy. ‘Proxy on behalf of a municipal government’ means deviance from the rules on autonomy provided by the Constitution: a party who conducts the construction work represents the municipal government which has received the legally designated job.
Futenma Air Station may continue to work
The Okinawa Defense Bureau, according to reports, will drive over 70 thousand piles into the ground to solidify the soft seabed. It extends approximately 90 meters down from the water surface at the deepest point. The Ministry explains that the construction work is all right if seventy meters of the depth below the surface is consolidated. But experts point out risks, saying that the ground will, highly possibly, sink even after completion.
Governor Tamaki demanded an immediate suspension of the construction job, harshly criticizing that ‘it is deplorable as the work was launched unilaterally, even though prior consultation meetings are not yet held on the works.’
In November 2023 the US military authority held a press meeting to explain on the new base in Henoko. The officer told that ‘the completion will be around 2037 at the earliest’, calling ‘relocation to Henoko the worst scenario’. He added that ‘from a military point of view continuing to use Futenma Station is better’ (dated August 13, 2024, the Tokyo Shinbun newspaper).
Incidentally, it is reported that another 20 billion yen is allocated to the repairing job at the Futenma Air Station though it will be closed.
Originally, the most acute issue was to immediately eliminate dangers coming from the air station as it is situated in the center of densely populated area. This point, however, has been evolved to severe antagonism between the state’s government, which advocates the US new base, and the Okinawa’s authority. The objective has been totally ignored, left behind. Meanwhile, an enormous sum of the state’s money is spent both on the works at Henoko and Futenma. That is unreasonable.
Overthrow the coalition government of LDP and the Komeito!
The coalition government does not commit properly at all in serious environmental impacts deriving from the new military facility, the growing amount of money for the construction works, the soft seabed indicating dead end of the works, and the Okinawan people’s explicit will of ‘No!’ which was shown in the prefectural referendum.
Furthermore, the central government is not reluctant to use earth and sand from the southern region of the Okinawa Island for land reclamation. The material contains bones of the dead fallen during the battle of Okinawa in the WWII. The government desecrates the victims once again.
Such official injustice cannot be left intact. A film, ‘the Ikusagumo (=War is Raging), directed Mikami Chie, tells viewers that ‘we must not be onlookers as we ourselves are witnesses, being responsible for history’.
沖縄県宜野湾市にある米軍普天間飛行場の移設を名目とする名護市辺野古の新基地建設を巡り、沖縄防衛局は大浦湾側の工事に着手した。軟弱地盤改良に伴う設計変更に基づく本体工事は初となる。
辺野古の大浦湾側に「マヨネーズ状態」の軟弱地盤が見つかり、防衛省は２０２０年、県に設計変更を申請。玉城デニー知事は承認せず、県は法廷闘争で敗訴した。そして23年12月、国が「代執行」で変更を承認したのだ。
工事を行う側が、地方公共団体の法定受託事務を代執行するのは、憲法が定める地方自治の本旨を踏み破る暴挙だ。
普天間に居座りも
軟弱地盤対策のため、沖縄防衛局は砂ぐい７万本超を打ち込むという。軟弱地盤は最も深い場所で水面下約90ｍに達する。防衛省は70ｍの工事で問題ないとするが、専門家は、完成しても沈下の恐れが高いと指摘する。
知事は着工強行を、「事前協議が整っていないにもかかわらず、協議に係る工事を一方的に着手したことは誠に遺憾」と厳しく批判、即時中止を求めた。
23年11月、米軍が報道機関向けに開いた説明会で辺野古新基地の完成を「早くても２０３７年になる」という見通しを示した上で、辺野古移設を「最悪なシナリオと呼ぶとともに、『軍事的な観点からは普天間にいた方がいい』と語っていた」(東京新聞24年８月13日)。
ちなみに、廃止されるはずの普天間飛行場の補修工事費には２００億円が充てられるという。
焦しょう眉び の課題は、密集する住宅地の真ん中にある普天間飛行場の速やかな危険除去だったはずだ。だが、辺野古新基地を巡る国と沖縄県の深刻な対立にすり替わってしまった。目指す目的が置き去りにされ、辺野古にも普天間にも巨額の国費が投じられるという不合理な事態となっている。
自公政権の打倒を
政府は、新基地建設がもたらす環境への深刻な影響、膨れ上がり続ける建設費、完成すら疑問視される軟弱地盤問題、県民投票が示した明確な「反対」の民意などに全く応えない。
更には、沖縄本島南部の遺骨混じりの土砂を辺野古工事の埋め立てに使うという、沖縄戦の犠牲者を冒ぼうとく涜する蛮行さえ辞さないのである。
そのような不条理な政権の存続が許されていいわけがない。三上智恵監督の映画『戦いくさふむ雲』は、「共に目撃者になり、歴史を背負う当事者として、我々は、傍観者であってはならない」と訴えている。
英訳版↓
No. 1371 Construction Work Started in Oura Bay, Okinawa
The Okinawa Defense Bureau has started a construction work at Oura Bay, Henoko. The office has insisted that a new military base is indispensable in Henoko, Nago City, as an alternative facility of the US Futenma Air Station, located in Ginowan City, to be relocated by the bilateral agreement. This work is the first, following the change in the original design due to the soft seabed found in the area.
DON’T LET GOVERNMENT CONTINUE ILLICIT ACTIONS!
The Ministry of Defense demanded Okinawa Prefecture in 2022 to change the construction work plan as the seabed at the site was found to be soft around Oura Bay. Governor Tamaki Denny had not approved the ministry’s order and the prefecture fought in the lawsuit, which has ended in a loss on the side of Okinawa. In December 2023 the state government accepted the Ministry’s decision to ‘represent’ the Okinawa’s authority by proxy. ‘Proxy on behalf of a municipal government’ means deviance from the rules on autonomy provided by the Constitution: a party who conducts the construction work represents the municipal government which has received the legally designated job.
Futenma Air Station may continue to work
The Okinawa Defense Bureau, according to reports, will drive over 70 thousand piles into the ground to solidify the soft seabed. It extends approximately 90 meters down from the water surface at the deepest point. The Ministry explains that the construction work is all right if seventy meters of the depth below the surface is consolidated. But experts point out risks, saying that the ground will, highly possibly, sink even after completion.
Governor Tamaki demanded an immediate suspension of the construction job, harshly criticizing that ‘it is deplorable as the work was launched unilaterally, even though prior consultation meetings are not yet held on the works.’
In November 2023 the US military authority held a press meeting to explain on the new base in Henoko. The officer told that ‘the completion will be around 2037 at the earliest’, calling ‘relocation to Henoko the worst scenario’. He added that ‘from a military point of view continuing to use Futenma Station is better’ (dated August 13, 2024, the Tokyo Shinbun newspaper).
Incidentally, it is reported that another 20 billion yen is allocated to the repairing job at the Futenma Air Station though it will be closed.
Originally, the most acute issue was to immediately eliminate dangers coming from the air station as it is situated in the center of densely populated area. This point, however, has been evolved to severe antagonism between the state’s government, which advocates the US new base, and the Okinawa’s authority. The objective has been totally ignored, left behind. Meanwhile, an enormous sum of the state’s money is spent both on the works at Henoko and Futenma. That is unreasonable.
Overthrow the coalition government of LDP and the Komeito!
The coalition government does not commit properly at all in serious environmental impacts deriving from the new military facility, the growing amount of money for the construction works, the soft seabed indicating dead end of the works, and the Okinawan people’s explicit will of ‘No!’ which was shown in the prefectural referendum.
Furthermore, the central government is not reluctant to use earth and sand from the southern region of the Okinawa Island for land reclamation. The material contains bones of the dead fallen during the battle of Okinawa in the WWII. The government desecrates the victims once again.
Such official injustice cannot be left intact. A film, ‘the Ikusagumo (=War is Raging), directed Mikami Chie, tells viewers that ‘we must not be onlookers as we ourselves are witnesses, being responsible for history’.
September 18, 2024