No. 1339 Launched Construction Work Around the Oura Bay
The Ministry of Defense began to continue the construction work January 10 in the area of the Oura Bay, where a very soft ground basis comes upon, in relation to building a new military base in Henoko, Okinawa. It is 13 days after the central government was designated as an alternate authority to keep the job, after the Okinawa’s government had rejected approval in changing the design in order to consolidate the weak ground basis. Indignation and protests of Governor Tamaki and residents of Okinawa are blowing up extensively in unity.
GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN INFRINGES INTERESTS OF LOCAL PEOPLE AND AUTONOMY
A ruling from the Naha Branch of the Fukuoka High Court has allowed the central government of Japan to continue the construction job on behalf of the Okinawa authority, accepting the autocratic right of the state (December 20). The judgment blatantly denies democracy itself. It has ruled with sophistry that ‘the local responses conspicuously harm the idea of constitutionalism’, saying that ‘the attitudes of the Okinawa Prefecture immensely damage public interests, which prevents the Futenma Air Field from achieving relocation’.
Governor Tamaki Denny has condemned harshly the ruling, stating that ‘the judiciary has not considered on the true public interests of residents of Okinawa, or the popular aspiration. It is because the court is obsessed with a fixed idea that Henoko is exclusively the best. The authorization of the state’s right to come first of the local government may be a precedent of denial of municipal autonomy. I can hardly accept the court decision.’
Further tactics for resistance
The state’s execution by proxy cannot be annulled until the Supreme Court reverses the ruling into one in favor of the prefecture’s authority. The court decision from the Fukuoka High Court advised with an added phrase ‘to reach a settlement through negotiation with the state authority’, but the central government would not answer to requests of the Okinawa government to have talks. Under these circumstances the construction work has been launched. The Okinawa, foreseeing that further changes in the construction plan will be necessarily made, is ready to seek for various tactics of resistance.
People in Okinawa get angry with the enforced militarization work in the southwestern islands of the country: they held a residents’ rally on November 23 last year to protest the central government and the governor joined the event. He told that ‘we will never again make Okinawa a battlefield’. Unity between inhabitants and Governor Tamaki is being consolidated.
The state’s proxy on behalf of a prefectural authority is the first case since 1999 when the Municipal Autonomy Act was revised. Local assembly members across the country raise loud voices of opposition.
US Military changes its strategy
The construction cost of the new base in Henoko counts as much as 930 billion yen according to an estimate made by the Ministry of Defense, and, reportedly, it will take twelve years before completion. Until that period the Futenma Air Field remains and will do the most dangerous airport in the world.
Furthermore, the US military is dispersing personnel from the Okinawa Island to curtail its damage in a possible emergency around Taiwan. The US government carries out its strategy in a concrete manner to replace their troops with ones from the Japan’s Self Defense Forces to deploy them on the forefront.
Military leaders of the US say that ‘bases in Okinawa are the most vulnerable hubs as they are very close to numerous missiles of China’, and assert that the program to relocate the functions to Henoko is ‘the worst scenario’, affirming that ‘a continued use of the Futenma Airfield is the best’. The runway in Henoko is planned to be 1,800 meter-long, which is shorter than that of Futenma’s 2,700 meters.
The government of Japan spends a tremendous sum of tax money on ‘the most vulnerable site’ in a contingency by destroying natural environment. It violates ‘public interests’ and ‘local autonomy’. What significance can we see in this construction work?
政府・防衛省は１月10日、辺野古新基地建設で軟弱地盤のある大浦湾側の工事着手を強行した。地盤改良工事の設計変更承認を代執行してから13日後だ。知事と県民一体の怒りの抗議が広がる。
国による強権的な「代執行」を許した福岡高裁那覇支部の判決（12月20日）は、民主主義そのものを否定するものだ。判決は、県の対応は「著しく公益を害し、普天間飛行場の固定化の回避という課題が達成されない」点で、「法治主義の理念を著しく損なう」と強弁した。
これに対し、玉城デニー知事は「沖縄県民の民意という真の公益を顧みなかったことは、司法自らが『辺野古が唯一』との固定観念に陥ったもの」で、代執行は「地方自治を否定する先例となりかねず到底容認できない」と糾弾した。
更なる抵抗手段
最高裁で県が逆転勝訴するまでは、代執行を取り消せるわけではない。高裁判決は国との「対話による解決」を付言しはしたが、県の話し合いの求めに政府は応じない。そうした中での大浦湾の着工強行だ。これに対し、県側は「更なる設計概要変更などの必要が生じる」と見通し、様々な抵抗手段を検討する構えだ。
南西諸島軍事化の強行に怒る県民運動が生まれ、知事も昨年11月23日に開かれた「沖縄をふたたび戦場にさせない」県民集会に参加するなど、知事と県民の一体感は以前にもまして高まっている。
そして、国による自治体の業務代執行は、１９９９年の地方自治法改定以来初めてとなった。全国の自治体議員から強い反対の声が湧き上がっている。
米軍は戦略変更
辺野古新基地建設の工事費は防衛省試算でも９３００億円に達し、「完成予定」は12年後という。それまで普天間基地は世界一危険な飛行場であり続ける。
その上、「台湾有事」に備え米軍は損害を抑えるために兵力を沖縄から分散させ、自衛隊を前面に立てる戦略を具体化している。
米軍関係者は「沖縄の基地は中国の多数のミサイルと近接し、もっとも脆弱な拠点」だと公言し、また辺野古移設を「最悪のシナリオ」で「普天間の継続使用が一番」と明言している。滑走路が１８００㍍と普天間の２７００㍍に比べて短く、使い勝手が悪いというのだ。
莫大な税金を投入し、自然を破壊し、「有事」には「もっとも脆弱な拠点」を、「公益」と「地方自治」を踏みにじって造る意味は、いったいどこにあるのか。
英訳版↓
No. 1339 Launched Construction Work Around the Oura Bay
The Ministry of Defense began to continue the construction work January 10 in the area of the Oura Bay, where a very soft ground basis comes upon, in relation to building a new military base in Henoko, Okinawa. It is 13 days after the central government was designated as an alternate authority to keep the job, after the Okinawa’s government had rejected approval in changing the design in order to consolidate the weak ground basis. Indignation and protests of Governor Tamaki and residents of Okinawa are blowing up extensively in unity.
GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN INFRINGES INTERESTS OF LOCAL PEOPLE AND AUTONOMY
A ruling from the Naha Branch of the Fukuoka High Court has allowed the central government of Japan to continue the construction job on behalf of the Okinawa authority, accepting the autocratic right of the state (December 20). The judgment blatantly denies democracy itself. It has ruled with sophistry that ‘the local responses conspicuously harm the idea of constitutionalism’, saying that ‘the attitudes of the Okinawa Prefecture immensely damage public interests, which prevents the Futenma Air Field from achieving relocation’.
Governor Tamaki Denny has condemned harshly the ruling, stating that ‘the judiciary has not considered on the true public interests of residents of Okinawa, or the popular aspiration. It is because the court is obsessed with a fixed idea that Henoko is exclusively the best. The authorization of the state’s right to come first of the local government may be a precedent of denial of municipal autonomy. I can hardly accept the court decision.’
Further tactics for resistance
The state’s execution by proxy cannot be annulled until the Supreme Court reverses the ruling into one in favor of the prefecture’s authority. The court decision from the Fukuoka High Court advised with an added phrase ‘to reach a settlement through negotiation with the state authority’, but the central government would not answer to requests of the Okinawa government to have talks. Under these circumstances the construction work has been launched. The Okinawa, foreseeing that further changes in the construction plan will be necessarily made, is ready to seek for various tactics of resistance.
People in Okinawa get angry with the enforced militarization work in the southwestern islands of the country: they held a residents’ rally on November 23 last year to protest the central government and the governor joined the event. He told that ‘we will never again make Okinawa a battlefield’. Unity between inhabitants and Governor Tamaki is being consolidated.
The state’s proxy on behalf of a prefectural authority is the first case since 1999 when the Municipal Autonomy Act was revised. Local assembly members across the country raise loud voices of opposition.
US Military changes its strategy
The construction cost of the new base in Henoko counts as much as 930 billion yen according to an estimate made by the Ministry of Defense, and, reportedly, it will take twelve years before completion. Until that period the Futenma Air Field remains and will do the most dangerous airport in the world.
Furthermore, the US military is dispersing personnel from the Okinawa Island to curtail its damage in a possible emergency around Taiwan. The US government carries out its strategy in a concrete manner to replace their troops with ones from the Japan’s Self Defense Forces to deploy them on the forefront.
Military leaders of the US say that ‘bases in Okinawa are the most vulnerable hubs as they are very close to numerous missiles of China’, and assert that the program to relocate the functions to Henoko is ‘the worst scenario’, affirming that ‘a continued use of the Futenma Airfield is the best’. The runway in Henoko is planned to be 1,800 meter-long, which is shorter than that of Futenma’s 2,700 meters.
The government of Japan spends a tremendous sum of tax money on ‘the most vulnerable site’ in a contingency by destroying natural environment. It violates ‘public interests’ and ‘local autonomy’. What significance can we see in this construction work?
January 24, 2024