Hawaiian activist with Okinawan roots Robert Kajiwara has called on Donald Trump to stop the construction a new US military base in Henoko in an open letter. The activist explained why the “unwanted” and “unnecessary” installation is fraught with risks for the US, Japan, and Okinawa.
Building a US military base at Henoko, Okinawa, is going to work against Washington’s efforts to strike a new trade deal with China and de-nuclearise North Korea by heightening tensions in the Asia-Pacific, deems Robert Kajiwara, a Hawaiian human rights activist with Okinawan roots.
Kajiwara, who is a cultural ambassador for his ancestral village of Nakagusuku, Okinawa, and special envoy for the Hawaiian Kingdom, stressed that he has long been “urging the US to form more peaceful and friendly relations with both China and North Korea, and President Trump has also indicated an eagerness to do that”.
He noted that “the US military as well as Japanese government themselves have stated that Okinawa offers no special strategic significance but happens to be the location due to political considerations”.Wilkerson and other members of the Overseas Base Realignment and Closure Coalition (OBRACC) sent a letter to the White House and Congress requesting the closure of the base.
The construction of a new military base which is both “unwanted” and “unnecessary”, and may require “billions of dollars over budget”, as the activist highlighted in his letter to Trump, citing concerns over soil conditions at the new construction site.
“It’s time to bring the troops home, cut unnecessary spending, reduce America’s overseas military burden, and build more peaceful and friendly relations with both China and North Korea”, Kajiwara wrote to the US president.
According to the human rights activist, “the Japanese government has long been extremely prejudiced against Okinawans, which is why they have placed an excessive amount of military bases in Okinawa”.
The southern Japanese island of Okinawa, which accounts for only 0.6 percent of Japan’s territory, hosts over 30 US military installations — more than 70 percent of their total number in Japan — with about 25,000 US troops stationed there.
According to the Japanese authorities, the significant US military presence is necessary to ensure the nation’s security. However, a large-scale protest movement has been going on across the island over the past years. The issue of relocating Marine Corps Air Station Futenma remains at the focus of attention of the Okinawans, who want the base to be relocated outside the prefecture.