U.S., Japan OK Deal to Return Okinawa Land

Japan and the United States agreed today to marshal their combined technological powers to build the world’s first floating heliport in a proposal that represents one of the largest reversions of land by U.S. military forces on the southern island of Okinawa.

One year after three U.S. servicemen were involved in the brutal rape of an island schoolgirl, setting off the largest protests against the American presence in three decades, a special bilateral committee agreed to ease the burdens on Okinawans by returning 21% of land--about 12,000 acres--now occupied by U.S. forces over the next 12 years.

The proposal’s centerpiece--and most controversial point--involves returning the Futenma Marine Corps Air Station near the city of Ginowan and transferring most of the facilities to an as-yet-unbuilt floating heliport somewhere off Okinawa’s eastern coast. Futenma is expected to be returned to the Japanese within seven years--but only if the heliport project is successful.

The special committee also agreed on measures to reduce some of the worst irritants endured by Okinawans, who host three-fourths of the U.S. military facilities in Japan. They include relocating parachute drops and live-fire training to less intrusive areas, building anti-noise barriers around bases, limiting the sometimes-deafening night-training flights, and measures to more easily apprehend U.S. military personnel involved in traffic accidents.

In a joint news conference with Japanese officials, U.S. Defense Secretary William J. Perry said the proposal would “very significantly” reduce the burden on Okinawans without downgrading the military readiness or capabilities of the American forces, which would not be reduced. He recalled his first visit to Okinawa as a young Army engineer dispatched after World War II to rebuild the demolished island--battlefield for the war’s bloodiest fighting--saying: “I can’t overstate what a special moment this is for me.”

Outgoing U.S. Ambassador Walter F. Mondale said the agreement represented more progress in settling long-standing Okinawan complaints over the last year than the previous 25 years combined. “We have tried in a very intensive way to be good neighbors to our friends in Okinawa,” he said.

But the critical question--whether a floating heliport is feasible--remains unanswered. Long dreamed about but never before successfully built, a floating heliport could mark an important technological breakthrough and offer new possibilities worldwide for more flexible military facilities. But so far, the idea is still a glint in the eye: The joint committee failed to identify either the location or the precise construction method, saying a special technical group would hash out such issues and make a concrete proposal by December 1997.

Until then, fierce political infighting is expected. Japanese Defense Agency chief Fumio Kyuma and other Japanese officials have strongly hinted that they will locate the heliport off Camp Schwab, a U.S. Marine facility on the eastern coast of Okinawa. But residents in the nearby town of Nago and fishermen have already begun to protest that possibility.

“Why would they bring a facility disliked all over Okinawa to Nago?” the Japanese press quoted Nago Mayor Tetsuya Higa as saying. “I have not heard about it either formally or informally. It’s not a matter to be decided unilaterally by the government.”

Officials within the U.S. military establishment are also questioning the heliport plan and its long-term implications for Washington’s global deployment strategy. One American defense official told Defense News, a U.S. publication, that Washington is concerned Japan could eventually use the facility to project power offshore, potentially destabilizing the region. The official also raised concerns that the agreement could set a dangerous precedent for other U.S. allies who want to move American troops deployed on their shores.

And the proposal is bound to set off a fierce battle among the politically powerful construction industries in both nations over who gets the biggest piece of the estimated $2-billion project. The joint committee announced it would study three methods: a “pile-supported pier type” supported by steel columns fixed to the seabed; a “pontoon type” supported by pontoons in a calm sea protected by a breakwater; and a “semi-submersible type” supported by a lower structure.

Each proposal is advocated by a different construction group--the first two by Japanese firms and the last by an American firm. As a result, the final decision is likely to be laced with as many political and business calculations as military ones.