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The Japanese Ministry of Protection plans to construct a brand new coaching floor for the Japan Floor Self-Protection Drive (JGSDF) within the central space of Okinawa’s predominant island, drawing robust opposition from native residents. Ought to the central authorities forcibly execute the plan, this may very well be yet one more tinder field in pacificist Okinawa, the nation’s politically and militarily delicate island.
Protection officers held a briefing session on the plan for about 280 native attendees in Uruma Metropolis of Okinawa Prefecture on February 11, in accordance with a doc launched by the Protection Ministry.
The ministry mentioned it is going to purchase 20 hectares of land, positioned on a former golf course within the metropolis in fiscal 12 months 2024, conduct a survey design in FY 2025, after which begin building for the JGSDF coaching website in FY 2026.
Together with this acquisition price, the ministry has earmarked 47.3 billion yen ($315 million) for expenditures on building of SDF amenities in Okinawa Prefecture within the fiscal 12 months 2024 finances.
The plan is a part of Japan’s elevated efforts to essentially strengthen protection capabilities in its southwestern Nansei Island chain, which incorporates Okinawa. The complete island chain spans about 1,200 kilometers, extending from the southern tip of Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s 4 predominant islands, to close Taiwan.
Over the previous few years, Beijing has proven growing assertiveness round Taiwan and the disputed Senkaku Islands within the East China Sea, additionally recognized in China because the Diaoyu Islands. The uninhabited islands are managed by Japan but in addition claimed by China and Taiwan.
The Protection Ministry started discussing this new coaching floor plan after the administration of Prime Minister Kishida Fumio in December 2022 accredited three key safety paperwork, which can information the nation’s overseas and protection insurance policies for the following 10 years.
Particularly, the Protection Buildup Program, a kind of three paperwork, included a coverage to reorganize the fifteenth Brigade of the JGSDF, which has its headquarters at Camp Naha on Okinawa with about 2,000 service members, to a division with about 3,000 personnel by the top of fiscal 12 months 2027.
At a press convention on February 13, Japan’s Protection Minister Kihara Minoru emphasised the necessity to construct a brand new coaching website because the variety of JGSDF members within the Nansei Islands area will increase and because the present coaching infrastructure is anticipated to be insufficient.
Within the press convention, Kihara additionally tried to ease considerations amongst Okinawans about noise, chemical air pollution, and accidents that may be caused by the brand new coaching website.
He confused that stay ammunition and clean ammunition shouldn’t be used underneath any circumstances, that helicopters shouldn’t be used besides in instances of catastrophe or emergency, and that evening coaching shouldn’t be performed with out prior discover.
“We think about it’s essential to attempt to attenuate the impression on the encircling space, so we are going to do our greatest to take substantive measures,” Kihara additionally mentioned at a information convention on December 26 final 12 months.
However as time handed, opposition to the plan grew louder. All native metropolis council members, each from the ruling and opposition events, at the moment are calling for the plan to be scrapped, in accordance with a brand new report by the Ryukyu Shimpo newspaper in Okinawa on February 16.
The deliberate website is adjoining to a prefectural youth middle, the place elementary, junior excessive, and highschool college students spend time. This facility is used for every kind of youth and youth educator coaching classes and likewise supplies area and alternatives for a big selection of actions, together with cultural, creative, athletic, mountaineering, and tenting pursuits.
Ishihara Shoji, president of the Okinawa Prefecture Ishikawa Youth Middle, advised The Diplomat by cellphone on February 16 that greater than 40,000 individuals use the middle yearly.
“It’s inconceivable to assemble a JGSDF coaching floor subsequent to an academic facility. The deliberate website can also be surrounded by residential neighborhoods. Development of coaching amenities is rarely allowed,” Ishihara mentioned.
On February 16. Kihara visited the principle island of Okinawa for the primary time since he took workplace in September 2023. He’ll meet with Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki on February 17. They’re anticipated to debate points equivalent to this deliberate JGSDF coaching website and the long-standing, thorny concern of the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station to a brand new base in Henoko.
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