(AP) The governor of Okinawa gave the go-ahead Friday for land reclamation to begin for a new U.S. military base, advancing the effort to consolidate the massive U.S. troop presence on the southern Japanese island but also making protests from residents likely.
Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima approved the Japanese Defense Ministry's application to reclaim land for the base on Okinawa's coast to replace the U.S. Marine Corps base in Futenma, a more congested part of Okinawa's main island.
But he later told a news conference that he would continue pressing to move the Futenma troops off Okinawa entirely, noting estimates it would take 9 1/2 years to build the base.
"My thinking remains it would be fastest to relocate outside (Okinawa) prefecture to a place where there is already an airport," he said.
He added that he approved the land reclamation because it met all environmental requirements.
Read full article here.
0 comments:
Post a Comment