The outcome of Sunday’s mayoral election in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, must serve as a springboard to ensure the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station is relocated to the Henoko district of Nago in the prefecture.

Atsushi Sakima, a conservative candidate and a former Liberal Democratic Party member of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly, was elected to his first term as mayor of Ginowan when he defeated Yoichi Iha, a former mayor and a progressive candidate.

During the campaign, Sakima insisted the base, which is located in the city center, be relocated outside the prefecture. But up until two years ago, he had approved a plan to relocate the base to Henoko and called for strengthening cooperation with the central and prefectural governments and promoting the local economy.

Sakima owes his victory to his pragmatic policy line, which attracted citizens who thought nothing would change under the leadership of Iha, a strong anti-base advocate. Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima also supported Sakima’s stance.

The LDP and New Komeito recommended Sakima as their candidate in the election, while the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party promoted Iha. The Democratic Party of Japan, however, did not recommend any candidate, allowing its supporters to vote based on their own judgment. The DPJ’s Diet members hailing from the prefecture and party members of the Ginowan Municipal Assembly supported Iha.

It is irresponsible for ruling party lawmakers to back the candidate who more strongly opposed the relocation plan promoted by the government despite the fact that it was a local election. It is also problematic that the DPJ leadership tacitly agreed to this.

Sakima’s election win will not necessarily lead to progress in the solution of the Futenma relocation issue. However, his victory can be expected to make it easier for the central government to cooperate with the Okinawa prefectural and Ginowan municipal governments. This should produce various favorable effects in the medium and long term.

The administration of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda needs to rethink its strategy in order to make progress in the relocation to Henoko, which was confirmed by Japan and the United States as the only effective way to resolve the Futenma issue.

Late last year, the government allocated 293.7 billion yen of the fiscal 2012 budget for the development of Okinawa Prefecture, an increase of 27 percent over the current fiscal year. Last week, the Cabinet approved two bills related to Okinawa development that would call for, among other things, transferring the authority of working out development programs from the state to the Okinawa prefectural government.

But the government has not demonstrated a strong determination to push through the relocation plan. It repeatedly asserts its official stance that the development of Okinawa is one thing and the Futenma relocation is another.

It is true that the circumstances under which the government has no alternative but to give priority to mending relations with Okinawa Prefecture, which fell apart due to a policy blunder by former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, but is it all right for the government to engage only in peripheral issues?

The government has met local demands by achieving a sharp rise in the budget for Okinawa development, promoting transfer of U.S. marines to Guam ahead of the Futenma relocation to Henoko and improving the operational implementation of the bilateral Status of the Forces Agreement for U.S. civilian staff.

But without a control tower for dealing with security and Okinawa issues, it will be impossible to put the relocation issue on the negotiating table between the central and Okinawa prefectural governments.

Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka is scheduled to visit Okinawa shortly. But as long as his qualities and abilities as defense minister are called into question, he will not be able to serve as a control tower.

Prime Minister Noda will visit Okinawa for the first time within this month. The planned visit will provide a chance for him to display his leadership in winning over the local governments and people to prevent the Futenma base from remaining in its current place.

(The Yomiuri Shimbun)

(Asia News Network)