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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Japan and US seal controversial deal over Okinawa |
| 2010-05-29 |
| Japan and the United States have announced a decision to keep a controversial US military base on the southern island of Okinawa following months of tense discussions. The decision marks a humiliating U-turn for Japan's prime minister Yukio Hatoyama, who won widespread support in last year's election with his popular pledges to relocate troops off Okinawa and pursue a "more equal" relationship with the US. However, following eight months of rising tensions between the US and Japan and countless protests by locals in Okinawa, the agreement as one made by Mr Hatoyama's predecessors in 2006. Only days before Mr Hatoyama's self-imposed deadline of solving the row at the end of May, a joint statement was issued following a telephone conversation between the prime minister and Barack Obama. It confirmed that the Futenma airbase at the heart of the dispute would be moved, as first agreed in 2006, from an urban area to the coastal Henoko region of the island. Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Mr Hatoyama said: "We were able to reach an agreement on the Futenma issue by the end of the month." The White House added that both leaders "expressed satisfaction with the progress made by the two sides in reaching an operationally viable and politically sustainable plan to relocate the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma". The US military in Okinawa has long been one of Japan's most sensitive domestic issues, with residents complaining of high noise levels, rising crime rates and damage to the environment. The military have been a permanent presence in Japan's southernmost subtropical region since the end of the Second World War, with about 24,000 troops based there today – more than half of Japan's total US military population – and their facilities covering a fifth of the island. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 The greatest single issue of the FUTENMA BASE CONTROVERSY comes down to PUTTING EARLY 20th CENTURY + WW2 IN THE PAST, + US-INTERNAT TRUST OF JAPAN BEING ALLLOWED TO RE-ARM WID STRATEGIC NUCLEAR WEAPONS. Tokyo broadly desires to keep US bases around until such time Japan is formally allowed in international treatise to dev and posses indigenous StratWeapons espec Nukes, which the US indirectly likes becuz it allows the US to focus on SPACE EXPLORATION + COLONIZATION FUTIRST PROJECTS.. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-05-29 01:49 |
| #1 The military have been a permanent presence in Japan's southernmost subtropical region since the end of the Second World War Actually, since 1 April 1945. The war with Japan and WWII would end in August 1945. It confirmed that the Futenma airbase at the heart of the dispute would be moved, How about just closing it and bring the boys home. Way past time to look to your own defense. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-05-29 00:33 |