Japan’s Okinawa may be on the front lines again as it marks anniversary of U.S. handover

By Tim Kelly

MIYAKO ISLAND (Reuters) – Seihan Nakazato desires the missile vans on the bottom subsequent to his melon farm to go away, however few others on Okinawa’s Miyako island, he complains, are demanding that Japan’s military take away such weapons, which he says would make them a goal for China.

“We’re a small neighborhood and there are many sophisticated relationships,” stated Nakazato, 68, standing subsequent to one of many greenhouses he worries may very well be bombed. “Some islanders do work for the bottom and others have kin within the navy.”

As Nakazato harvests his melons on Japan’s key border outpost, Okinawa on Sunday marks 50 years since america ended its occupation, elevating hopes of a return to normality after its devastation in World Warfare Two. However the East China Sea island chain, which, together with Taiwan, hems in Beijing’s forces, fears it is going to develop into a battlefield once more.

“We’re apprehensive about statements by nationwide lawmakers {that a} Taiwan contingency can be a Japan contingency, and up to date discussions that appear to imagine Okinawa can be concerned in an armed battle,” Okinawa’s governor Denny Tamaki stated at a information convention on Could 6. The prefecture has about 1.4 million individuals, most of them on the eponymous principal island.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has added to these issues, with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warning of the fragility of safety in Asia.

And Japanese lawmakers from Kishida’s occasion have stated they need strike missiles added to the nation’s arsenal – a weapon that may very well be deployed to Okinawa.

China, which spends virtually 5 instances as a lot on defence as Japan, says it intentions within the area are peaceable.

“Okinawa would be the entrance line within the case of a conflict or battle between Japan and China,” stated Masaaki Gabe, a professor emeritus on the College of Ryukyus on Okinawa’s principal island, who described himself as an insecure 17-year-old when the U.S. occupation ended.

“After 50 years, the insecure feeling nonetheless continues,” he added.

STRATEGIC VALUE

Fringed with coral reefs and coated in sugar cane, Gabe’s house island is a crucial navy outpost. It has two airports, a big port and is lower than 400 kilometres (249 miles) from Taiwan. It is usually 200km from uninhabited islands within the East China Sea which can be the point of interest of an intensifying territorial dispute with China.

The Floor Self Protection Pressure (GSDF) camp subsequent to Nakazato’s farm, which was once a golf course, is Japan’s latest military base. The missiles deployed there, meant to focus on Chinese language ships crusing out and in the Western Pacific, are the closest such weapons Japan has to China.

“I worry the entire island will develop into a fortress,” stated Hayako Shimizu, 73, the chief of a bunch of protesters against the bottom, who stand exterior each Thursday with flags planted on Nakazato’s land.

“There aren’t many individuals who communicate up, though I feel lots of people are sad with it,” Shimizu added.

Base commander Colonel Masakazu Iyota, 52, thinks most islanders assist or settle for the presence of the 700 GSDF troops and their tools, which he described as a “frontline deterrence”.

“I do not suppose our present posture is sufficient,” he stated.

NEXT STEPS

Iyota might get reinforcements after Japan revises its nationwide safety technique this yr.

As a part of that assessment, ruling LDP lawmakers have stated they need a dedication to extra defence spending – together with on missiles that may hit targets on international soil.

Japan might maintain off on deploying such strike weapons to Miyako to keep away from frightening China, solely 600km away, however Gabe predicts the nation will station plane and different missiles in Okinawa.

The subsequent part of navy growth on Miyako may very well be at its Shimoji airport, a former senior defence ministry official informed Reuters, asking to not be recognized due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Constructed to coach jumbo jet pilots, it has been a logo of resistance to militarization since Okinawa’s first post-occupation governor, Chobyo Yara, secured a authorities promise to by no means deploy navy planes there.

Senior ruling Liberal Democratic occasion lawmakers akin to Masahisa Sato have sought to annul that.

“Aside from the principle Okinawa island, it’s the solely different place an F-15 fighter jet can function from,” stated Sato, a former deputy defence minister, who proposed stationing air power jets there in 2020. “As we now have seen in Ukraine, you by no means know when conflict will get away.”

ISLAND POLITICS

Kishida’s occasion will want native assist in Okinawa to construct extra bases, a tricky proposition when resentment over U.S. forces there dominates politics.

Of 812 Okinawans polled by public broadcaster NHK in March, 56% stated they strongly opposed U.S. bases; solely 1 / 4 of 1,115 individuals exterior the prefecture stated the identical.

A take a look at of whether or not the LDP can acquire floor is available in September, when Okinawa chooses its governor. Tamaki, an impartial who desires a smaller navy footprint, is on the poll.

On Miyako, Masahiro Hamamoto, 48, who served as an LDP metropolis councilor for eight years, sees an opportunity for his occasion to realize assist on his island, which depends upon farming, tourism and public works spending.

“There’s a sense that it advantages the island by having nearer political hyperlinks to central authorities,” stated the native beverage and cigarette wholesaler, who was born two years after Okinawa was returned to Japan.

The revenue of Miyako’s 55,000 residents is about 70% of the nationwide common.

“The financial system is not good, so individuals will vote for the LDP,” stated Toshiaki Shimoji, 61, an Okinawa principal island resident who traveled to Miyako to work his household’s farm.

“Russia invaded Ukraine, so there will probably be extra defence spending and that might imply extra missiles right here. I do not suppose base protests will change something,” he added, sitting on a tractor in a sugar cane area.

(The story is refiled so as to add dropped phrase in paragraph 18)

(Reporting by Tim Kelly, further reporting by Kaori Kaneko. Modifying by Gerry Doyle)