U.S., Japan Plan Return of Land to Okinawans

Japan and the United States announced today the largest return of U.S. military land in Okinawa to local landowners since the southern island reverted to Japanese control in 1972.

The sweeping plan to return about 20% of the 58,000 acres being used by American troops, to end all live-fire artillery drills and to reduce noise represents the most significant effort ever undertaken by the two governments to lighten the burden of the U.S. military presence on Okinawans.

Okinawa, which was captured by the United States after the bloodiest battle of World War II, hosts more than half the U.S. troops in Japan. Longtime local grievances against the bases gained urgency last year when the rape of a schoolgirl involving three U.S. servicemen sparked a national outcry.

“The agreement will reduce the burdens on Okinawa while maintaining U.S. readiness and military capability,” Defense Secretary William J. Perry said at a news conference today in Tokyo.

“All of us agreed we could not eliminate the burden. Freedom is not free,” he added. “The U.S. forces in Japan and Korea are not here for the convenience of the United States. . . . It’s because we and the Japanese government believe they were necessary to preserve the security and stability of the Asia-Pacific region.”

The land plan--contained in a joint interim report on Okinawa released today--clears the way for an upbeat meeting Wednesday between President Clinton and Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on the U.S.-Japan security alliance. Clinton is scheduled to arrive in Tokyo on Tuesday after a summit on the South Korean island of Cheju with President Kim Young Sam.

Clinton and Hashimoto are expected to transform the U.S.-Japan alliance from being a guard against the two nations’ old Cold War enemy, the Soviet Union, into the cornerstone of Asia’s peace and prosperity. The two sides will also begin reviewing 1978 guidelines on their alliance, a process likely to open the door to greater Japanese cooperation in U.S. military operations during crises.

The accords signed by Perry and Hideo Usui, director general of the Japan Defense Agency, will allow Japan to provide U.S. forces with such services as refueling and transport--and even to supply them with weapons parts. The agreement is seen as laying the groundwork for broader Japanese assistance during crises, although it will apply only to peacetime during joint training and U.N. peacekeeping operations.

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Although the two sides say increased support and cooperation will take place within the limits of Japan’s pacifist constitution, the country’s Socialist Party long opposed even talk about expanded roles until it joined the ruling government in 1994 and reversed its opposition to the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty. That treaty obliges the United States to defend Japan, which provides bases and more than $5 billion annually for support of the American troops.

Despite the broader issues, the voices of Okinawa--the cries against a fate as America’s most important military launch pad in Asia--have commanded center stage in the security debate.

Last fall’s beating and rape of a 12-year-old girl sparked the largest protests against the U.S. presence in more than 30 years and became a symbol of the daily indignities of noise, crime and stunted economic growth many Okinawans say the bases bring. U.S. officials say they had to give meaningful ground on Okinawa for the sake of the larger alliance--and, they say, they have.

“Together, we have done more serious work to respond to the legitimate concerns of the Okinawa citizens in the last few months than was done in the last 20 years,” U.S. Ambassador Walter F. Mondale declared last week after announcing the return within seven years of the most controversial U.S. facility, the Futenma Marine Corps Air Station.

Some Japanese officials say they hope that U.S. compromises on Okinawa will signal a new era of greater give-and-take in the security alliance. Many here are eager to grow out of the role of junior partner and, for instance, want the United States to lobby with action rather than mere words for a permanent seat for Japan on the U.N. Security Council.

“We have to pay the money without being involved in the decision-making process,” said Wataru Nishigahiro of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

U.S. officials stressed that the Okinawa plan will not compromise military capabilities because nearly all affected operations will be shifted to locations elsewhere in Okinawa or in other parts of Japan. U.S. troop levels of 100,000 in Asia and 47,000 in Japan will be maintained, and the land plan will not result in an appreciable reduction in the 27,000 troops in Okinawa.

Japan has agreed to bear the costs, estimated at more than $1 billion, of consolidating and relocating the U.S. facilities.

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It was not clear how Okinawans will respond to the plan. Okinawa Gov. Masahide Ota and his prefecture are calling for all major bases to be returned by the year 2015. Numerous public opinion polls show that an overwhelming majority of residents favor base reductions.

Keiko Itokazu, an Okinawa prefectural assemblywoman, said she fears that the land plan will simply shift the problem to other parts of Japan and allow the U.S. military to further dig in its heels. An advocate of breaking the security treaty itself, Itokazu said Japan’s own Self-Defense Forces are fully adequate to defend the nation.

At the same time, however, only 100 of 28,000 local landowners are refusing to renew their leases for land used by U.S. facilities. Many of the rest depend on lucrative lease payments, and they fear that reversion will force them to start from scratch, said Naoyoshi Sunagawa of the local landowners association.

In any case, the joint plan addresses nearly all of the prefecture’s major grievances:

* Land. The United States will release more than 12,000 acres to local landowners, although the timing is still unclear. Major sites involved in full or partial reversion include the Futenma Air Station, the Sobe Communication Site, the Northern Training Area, the Gimbaru Training Area, Camp Kuwae and the Aha Training Area.

In addition, U.S. housing facilities will be consolidated. The return of Naha Military Port will be accelerated; the return of Yomitan Auxiliary Field was reaffirmed.

* Training and operations. All routine live-fire artillery drills across Highway 104 will be relocated to the Japanese mainland, resolving one of the most troublesome issues. Paradrop training will also be relocated off the main island of Okinawa, and conditioning hikes on public roads will be discontinued.

* Noise reduction. Some aircraft, such as Navy P-3s and Harrier jump jets, will be relocated to other parts of Japan and the United States. Night flight training will be limited. Obstructing walls will be built around the Kadena Air Base.

In addition, the two sides agreed on ways to better monitor incidents involving the U.S. military, such as better vehicle identification.