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In a City on Okinawa, Mayor’s Re-election Deals a Blow to Marine Base Relocation Plan
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/20/world/asia/city-on-okinawa-deals-blow-to-plan-to-move-marine-base.html?smid=fb-share&_r=1
In a City on Okinawa, Mayor’s Re-election Deals a Blow to Marine Base Relocation Plan
By MARTIN FACKLER
JAN. 19, 2014
TOKYO — Efforts to relocate a Marine air base that has been a longstanding irritant in ties between Japan and the United States suffered a new setback on Sunday when voters in a small Okinawan city re-elected a leftist mayor who promised to block construction of a replacement site.
The victory for the mayor of Nago, Susumu Inamine, dealt an embarrassing blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has invested his political capital in efforts to restart the long-stalled relocation deal, and who seemed to achieve a breakthrough last month by gaining the support of Okinawa’s governor.
Mr. Abe, a conservative, has vowed to build closer ties with the United States at a time when both nations face growing challenges from a militarily resurgent China and a nuclear-armed North Korea.
The relocation has been fiercely opposed by Okinawans, who want the base — the Marine Corps’ Air Station Futenma — off their island altogether. Opinion polls had forecast a victory for Mr. Inamine, who has opposed the nearly two-decade-old plan to move the base and its noisy helicopters and other aircraft from a heavily populated part of Okinawa to the fishing hamlet of Henoko, in a remote corner of his city.
In a high-profile attempt to swing the election, Mr. Abe had thrown his government’s political weight — and financial resources — behind a challenger in favor of the base plan, Bunshin Suematsu. A week before the vote, the Abe government even dangled the prospect of a half-billion dollars in new public works spending for the city, or the equivalent of more than $8,000 for each of Nago’s 63,000 residents.
<snip>
In a City on Okinawa, Mayor’s Re-election Deals a Blow to Marine Base Relocation Plan
By MARTIN FACKLER
JAN. 19, 2014
TOKYO — Efforts to relocate a Marine air base that has been a longstanding irritant in ties between Japan and the United States suffered a new setback on Sunday when voters in a small Okinawan city re-elected a leftist mayor who promised to block construction of a replacement site.
The victory for the mayor of Nago, Susumu Inamine, dealt an embarrassing blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has invested his political capital in efforts to restart the long-stalled relocation deal, and who seemed to achieve a breakthrough last month by gaining the support of Okinawa’s governor.
Mr. Abe, a conservative, has vowed to build closer ties with the United States at a time when both nations face growing challenges from a militarily resurgent China and a nuclear-armed North Korea.
The relocation has been fiercely opposed by Okinawans, who want the base — the Marine Corps’ Air Station Futenma — off their island altogether. Opinion polls had forecast a victory for Mr. Inamine, who has opposed the nearly two-decade-old plan to move the base and its noisy helicopters and other aircraft from a heavily populated part of Okinawa to the fishing hamlet of Henoko, in a remote corner of his city.
In a high-profile attempt to swing the election, Mr. Abe had thrown his government’s political weight — and financial resources — behind a challenger in favor of the base plan, Bunshin Suematsu. A week before the vote, the Abe government even dangled the prospect of a half-billion dollars in new public works spending for the city, or the equivalent of more than $8,000 for each of Nago’s 63,000 residents.
<snip>
Via https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=827340257281469&id=102772801940
Dr Helen Caldicott · 13,332 like this
12 hours ago ·
Excellent news!
12 hours ago ·
Excellent news!
