Texts Fwd: Complete Set of Asahi Shimbun Wikileaks Stories on DC-Tokyo re Okinawa

* Text fwd by J. D. on May 7 and Martha Duenas on May 8

The Asahi Shimbun
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105050102.html
EDITORIAL: Leaked Documents Reveal Shocking Japan-U.S. Diplomacy
2011/05/06

WikiLeaks has published vast troves of internal and confidential government documents that normally would have been kept inaccessible to the public for a certain, usually long, period, such as 25 years, before being released after careful screening.

The anti-secrecy website has disclosed shocking facts about the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and American diplomacy through the releases of classified government documents by whistleblowers. Now, the wave has hit Japanese diplomacy.

The Asahi Shimbun has obtained nearly 7,000 U.S. diplomatic cables from the site, which shed light on the unknown side of diplomacy between Japan and the United States mainly between 2006 and early 2010.

This is the period from the final days of the Liberal Democratic Party's rule to the era of the first Democratic Party of Japan administration led by then Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

The Hatoyama administration pledged to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma out of Okinawa Prefecture at the least.

Between late 2009 and early 2010, however, the Hatoyama administration secretly told Washington that Japan would go along with the 2006 bilateral agreement to move the base to a northern location in the same prefecture if no viable alternative to the existing plan was found. It was half a year before Hatoyama publicly said he had decided to break his promise to relocate the base outside Okinawa.

There are certainly some elements in diplomatic negotiations that should be kept secret from the public.

But the Hatoyama administration's lying about its basic policy concerning the Futenma issue amounts to an unpardonable betrayal of the people.

After the DPJ government assumed office, senior bureaucrats at the Foreign and Defense Ministries gave the United States some advice that could undermine the DPJ administration's efforts to solve the Futenma problem, such as Washington should not show flexibility (over the issue) too early.

If bureaucrats have objections to the government's policy, they should express their opinions to their own country's administration.

These foreign and defense ministry officials showed a gross misunderstanding of their roles when they tried to influence the new government's actions by communicating secretly with the negotiation partner.

But questionable diplomatic actions are not the exclusive preserve of the DPJ government.

Concerning the cost of transferring thousands of U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam, the previous government of the LDP-New Komeito coalition agreed with the U.S. administration to pad related expenses as a gimmick to make Japan's share of the financial burden look smaller than it actually was.

These cables, not intended for immediate publication, contain many facts about behind-the-scenes goings-on in the bilateral diplomacy.

Since they reflect U.S. interpretations of what actually happened, the documents may be silent about things the U.S. administration might find inconvenient.

But reading through these documents without reading too much into specific words and phrases throws into sharp relief some serious problems with Japanese diplomacy.

What emerged from the documents is a deplorable spectacle of Japanese politicians and bureaucrats making haphazard responses to the situation in order to protect existing policies or their own interests.

Their actions showed no sign that they were thinking consistently from the viewpoint of what was in the best interest of the Japanese people.

If there is any one thread running through their actions, it is consideration of the need to keep Japan's relations with the United States on good terms.

In addition, Japanese actors who were distrustful of each other talked fairly candidly about what was going on within the Japanese government to American officials. That's shocking rather than surprising.

If this distressing picture is a true picture of the state of our country's diplomacy, we need to start our efforts to rebuild it by confronting this reality.

What do the DPJ government, Japanese diplomats and the LDP really think about Japan's diplomacy as revealed by these cables? Their answers to this question should be seen as a starting point to debate.

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 5, 2011
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105050102.html

_____________________________

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

THE TRUTH BEHIND JAPAN-U.S. TIES (1): DPJ Government Never Committed to Futenma Alternatives
2011/05/04

THE TRUTH BEHIND JAPAN-U.S. TIES (2): U.S. Used 'China Card' to Thwart Futenma Alternatives
2011/05/04

THE TRUTH BEHIND JAPAN-U.S. TIES (3): Numbers Inflated in Marine Relocation Plan to Increase Political Impact
2011/05/04

THE TRUTH BEHIND JAPAN-U.S. TIES (4): LDP Ministers Made Secret Promises to Okinawa Governor on Futenma
2011/05/04

THE TRUTH BEHIND JAPAN-U.S. TIES (6): Japanese Bureaucrats Also Critical of DPJ Government
2011/05/04

Part 1 - http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105040063.html

Part 2 - http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105040065.html

Part 3 - http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105040066.html

Part 4 - http://www.asahi.com/english?TKY201105040067.html

Part 5 - http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105040068.html

Part 6 - http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105040069.html

Text Fwd: Asian coalition calls for unity through corporate social responsibility

Hankyoreh
Asian coalition calls for unity through corporate social responsibility
The coalition says increased responsibility will ease the effect of regional disasters
By Choi Woo-sung, Staff Writer
　
“Asia for Asia.”

A project of harmonious coexistence between Asian companies and societies is taking shape based on the tragic earthquake that has left the islands of Japan in a state of shock. Asian societies, previously regarded as merely “objects” of assistance from Western society, are now transcending regional conflict and hostility to become responsible “subjects” leading the way in solutions to urgent regional issues. From Japan’s neighbors South Korea and China to Afghanistan, which currently faces enormous financial problems of its own, countries are stepping forward to extend assistance to a grief-stricken Japanese society. The message sent to Asian society by the participants of December’s 2010 Asian Future Forum in Seoul with their closing “2010 Asian Future Statement” is now turning into a reality.

The Asia Corporate Social Responsibility Expert Committee, made up of specialists in the environment, society, and the ruling structure of South Korea, China, and Japan and headed by U.N. Global Compact Korea Network Secretary General Ju Chul-ki, issued an emergency joint statement Thursday in which it stressed the need to use the situation in Japan as an opportunity for companies in the three countries to step up their corporate social responsibility.

“We feel an inexpressible sadness at the tragedy of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant accident that have taken place in Japan,” the statement read.

“Companies in South Korea, China, and Japan must profoundly understand that in the mid- to long term, this situation will have a serious economic, social, and environmental impact on not only Japan but all of East Asia, including China and South Korea,” the committee said, urging companies to mobilize human and material resources to the fullest extent permitted by their capabilities to support Japanese society in resolving the situation as part of their CSR efforts.

An immediate risk for the regional community is the shadow of major disaster lurching toward the Asian continent. Over the past decade, the East Asian region has been assailed by major disasters that have crossed national borders to threaten the entire regional community, including 2004’s Indonesian tsunami, the 2008 earthquake in China’s Sichuan Province, and now the 2011 earthquake in northeastern Japan. In their scale and impact, these recent catastrophes have been going beyond the scope of what individual regions or countries can handle alone. The natural result of this is a need for regional communities to join forces in preventing disasters or overcoming their damages.


Particular attention is focusing on the role played in this process by companies, the major players in the private sector. This stems from a need to understand corporate activity these days in terms of an ecosystem with a complex web of interests rather than a simple relationship of unconditional competition. The major Asian companies that have become leading actors on the global stage have already been shifting toward a more forward-thinking stance. With the earthquake in Japan, attention is focusing on the emergence of relationships of active support and collaboration between competing companies.

“Today is an era where all ventures and markets are linked internationally, so companies must take the initiative in promoting social responsibility and creating relationships of cooperation,” said LG Electronics Vice President Kim Young-ki.

“This approach is also absolutely essential in business terms,” Kim added.

Experts also agree that the situation in Japan must serve as an occasion for leading Asian companies to step up their social responsibility in jointly resolving problems facing the local community.

“Even if this earthquake occurred in a single developed nation, Japan, it is a pan-regional problem that could surface in any country at any time, so we must join our forces,” said Ju Chul-ki.

“Most corporate activity these days goes beyond the borders of any one countries, so the global companies in this region need to participate more actively in overcoming difficult situations in the interest of corporate social responsibility,” Ju added.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

Text Fwd: Reischauer Saw US Forces' Okinawa-to Guam Move Theoretically Possible

* Text informed by Martha Duenas on Feb. 19, 2011

The Mainichi Daily News
Reischauer Saw US Forces' Okinawa-to Guam Move Theoretically Possible
February 19, 2011

Tokyo(Kyodo) - Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Edwin Reischauer told a Japanese government official in 1967 that relocating all U.S. military facilities in Okinawa to Guam was theoretically possible, declassified Japanese diplomatic documents showed Friday.

Reischauer also told the Japanese officials that the U.S. military had estimated the cost for the relocation at $3 billion to $4 billion, showed the documents declassified by the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Reischauer made the comment during a meeting with a Japanese diplomat in Boston on April 14, 1967, eight months after leaving the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, according to a top-secret cable sent the following day to the Japanese Foreign Ministry from the Japanese Embassy in Washington.

The document quoted Reischauer as saying that Japan had enjoyed a "free ride" in its national security thanks to U.S. defense efforts, a comment taken as speaking for some U.S. lawmakers who were dissatisfied with Tokyo and trying to prod Japan to take a more active role in its national defense.

In 2006, Japan and the United States reached an agreement on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. Under the accord, the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Ginowan will be relocated to the coastal area of Nago by 2014. The deal also includes the transfer of around 8,000 Marines to Guam from Okinawa.

Reischauer (1910-1990), who is known to be an expert of history and culture of Japan at Harvard University, served as U.S. ambassador to Japan from 1961 through 1966.

Text Fwd: Gates: Japan, US Partnerships Vital

Buildup: Defense Secretary Robert Gates with Rear Adm. William French and others at Andersen Air Force Base after a helicopter tour during his visit to Guam on May 30, 2008 in this file photo. (Pacific Daily News file photo)

* Text forward from Martha Duenas on Jan. 18, 2011

Pacific Daily News

Gates: Japan, US Partnerships Vital

Brett Kelman • Pacific Daily News • January 18, 2011

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said during a speech last week that smaller complications with the U.S.-Japan alliance, like Guam funding and the Okinawa bases, can distract from the reasons why allies must stick together -- specifically, North Korea and China.

Gates spoke at Keio University in Tokyo last Thursday about the importance of the U.S.-Japan defense pact. It's been in effect for about 50 years but has been strained on both sides by plans to shuffle American forces between Okinawa and Guam.

Gates said the alliance was born from "shared values" over how countries should treat their people and each other. Today, those values are still larger than the conflicts that have dominated recent headlines, Gates said.

During the speech, Gates explained why the two powerful nations to needed to preserve their partnership and why, despite controversy, some American troops needed to stay on Japanese soil. They were:

If the troops leave Japan, North Korea's recent military provocations could become "even more outrageous -- or worse"; and China, an economic superpower with a growing military presence, might "behave more assertively toward its neighbors."

"Even as President Obama has committed the U.S. to a strategy of engagement and cooperation -- with special emphasis on Asia -- we will continue to maintain the military strength necessary to protect our interests, defend our allies, and deter potential adversaries from acts of aggression and intimidation," Gates said. "To do this, we need a committed and capable security partner in Japan."

Guam's role

Yesterday, Gov. Eddie Calvo said that Guam's role in the troop relocation was directly linked with the growth of China, which could turn out to be a friend, competitor or both.

Guam is only one piece in an international relationship with a "massive," global scope, involving three of the most powerful on Earth, Calvo said. But Guam's large role gives the island leverage it never had before.

"It will be either the harmonious interaction, or competition, between the United States and China that will dictate the course of world events over the next 50 to 100 years," Calvo said. "And we will be right in the middle of it."

The security demands of a modern Asia make the troop relocation inevitable, said Sen. Judith Guthertz, chairwoman of the legislative buildup committee.

Guthertz said floundering public opinion in Japan and the financial concerns of a new Congress will probably delay the buildup a while more, but it will happen.

"The Department of Defense is very worried about China and they are very worried about North Korea," she said. "They can't protect our interests as a country, and the region's interest, without the buildup on Guam. So this buildup on Guam will proceed, but the timelines may be a little slower."

Japan trip

Gates' recent speech came at the tail end of a short trip to Japan, the same day he met with Japanese Minister of Defense Tosihimi Kitazawa to discuss the U.S.-Japan alliance.

During both the speech and a joint press conference, Gates spoke more about alliance conflicts in Okinawa than he did about Guam, but he was speaking to a Japanese audience.

The troop realignment will change the shape of both islands.

In Guam, infrastructure isn't ready for a population boom, so federal funding -- and money from Japan -- is slated to fund upgrades. The plan to build a firing range near the ancient village site of Pågat has led to protests.

In Okinawa, public opinion of U.S. forces is low, and prefecture Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima has vowed to oppose the troop realignment plan unless it removes all American bases from Okinawa.

Currently, the Defense Department plans to close the Futenma Air Base in Ginowan by moving many of the Marines to Guam and the airfield to Camp Schwab, another base in Okinawa.

Because of his authority under Japan's Public Water Body Reclamation Law, Nakaima could block a key component to the Futenma shift -- a landfill on reclaimed land in the Oura Bay.

The Defense Department once pressured the Japan government to proceed with the air base relocation, despite objections, but after his meeting with Kitazama last week, Gates took a softer tone on Futenma.

"We do understand that it is, politically, a complex matter in Japan and we intend to follow the lead of the Japanese government in working with the people of Okinawa to take their interests and their concerns into account, and that obviously needs to happen," Gates said, according to a transcript of the press conference.

Guthertz said Gates' new approach was a testament to the power of the Okinawan people. If the Defense Department can soften on Futenma, it can surely soften on Pågat too, she said.

"They are going to back off of Pågat. That's my gut instinct," she said. "They know it's a no-winner for them."

File downloads
Download the full text of Calvo's address here.

Text Fwd: Japan Shifts Military Policy Focus To China, Island Dispute 일본, 군사 정책 촛점을 중국과 섬 논쟁으로 바꾸다

Stop NATO
Asahi Shimbun
December 11, 2010
Defense policy shifting focus to China's military
BY KENTARO KAWAGUCHI


-The new appendix calls for increasing the number of submarines from the current 16 to 22 and includes mention of the next-generation fighter jets.
It also calls for increasing the number of Aegis destroyers from the current four.


The government plans to discard its Cold War defense philosophy and shift to a posture that can effectively deal with possible contingencies on Japan's vulnerable southern islands and China's growing military presence.

The main points of the National Defense Program Guidelines to be released this month will move away from a setup preparing for an invasion by the Soviet Union to a dynamic defense capability that emphasizes mobility.

Since the first National Defense Program Guidelines were released in 1976, the emphasis has been on deploying the Self-Defense Forces uniformly around the nation.

This year's revision will be the first to introduce the concept of "dynamic defense capabilities."

Rather than seek a uniform deployment of SDF troops, the new guidelines will emphasize mobility and readiness to allow the SDF to respond to terrorist acts or an invasion of outlying islands.

The guidelines will also raise concerns about the Chinese Navy's rising presence in waters around Japan.

China has increased its military spending by double-digit rates for 21 straight years. In April, China sent its most advanced submarines as part of a fleet engaged in a training exercise that included navigating between the main Okinawa island and Miyakojima island.

The guidelines describe such actions by China as "matters of concern" for the region as well as international community.

READ MORE

_________________________
See also
Stop NATO
Japanese Politicians Land On China-Claimed Island
Radio Netherlands
December 11, 2010
===========================
Stop NATO
Blog site

Text Fw: Japanese Military Joins U.S. And NATO In Horn Of Africa

Japanese Military Joins U.S. And NATO In Horn Of Africa
Rick Rozoff
April 25, 2010


Japanese navy commander Keizo Kitagawa recently spoke with Agence France-Presse and disclosed that his nation was opening its first overseas military base – at any rate since the Second World War – in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.

Kitagawa is assigned to the Plans and Policy Section of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, as his nation’s navy is called, and is in charge of the deployment.

AFP quoted the Japanese officer as stressing the unprecedented nature of the development: “This will be the only Japanese base outside our country and the first in Africa.” [1]

The military installation is to cost $40 million and is expected to accommodate Japanese troops early next year.

Djibouti rests at the confluence of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, across from strife-torn Yemen, and borders the northwest corner of equally conflict-ridden Somalia. The narrow span of water separating it from Yemen is the gateway for all maritime traffic passing between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean via the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea.

Naval deployments to the Gulf of Aden by several major nations and alliances – the U.S., NATO, the European Union, China, Russia, India, Iran and others – are designed to insure the free passage of commercial vessels through the above route and to protect United Nations World Food Programme deliveries to Somalia. The second concern in particular led to the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1838 in 2008, which requests that nations with military vessels in the area suppress the capture of ships and their crews for ransom. An anti-piracy mission.

However, the above-mentioned Japanese naval officer was more direct in identifying his nation’s interest in establishing a military base in Africa. Kitagawa also told AFP that “We are deploying here to fight piracy and for our self-defence. Japan is a maritime nation and the increase in piracy in the Gulf of Aden through which 20,000 vessels sail every year is worrying.”

The term self-defense is not fortuitous. Article 9 of the 1947 Japanese Constitution explicitly affirms that “the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. To accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.”

As such, in the post-World War Two period the nation’s armed forces have been called the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF).

The Constitution also expressly prohibits the deployment of military forces outside of Japan, stating that it is “not permissible constitutionally to dispatch armed troops to foreign territorial land, sea and airspace for the purpose of using military power, as a so-called overseas deployment of troops, since it generally exceeds the minimum level necessary for self-defense.”

For MORE READING

Text fwd: From Okinawa: NO NATO Event to participate

* Image Source*
http://www.geocities.jp/teruo024/start.htm

Fwd from Teruo Onishi "大西 照雄" and Agatha Haun on March 26, 2009

From the Sea Dugongs in OKINAWA　

(Okinawa is a strategic colony of the Japanese government and the U.S.
government!）

Death of a Marine

March 23, killing one Marine Corps base at Camp Schwab, the accident injured
two people. Report of the accident is the first waste treatment. The flag to
half-staff to astrocytes. "Disgrace" that the U.S. military death is shown. Today's practice of "blink burn" seems to be a shooting spree.

Okinawa prefectural assembly, the opposite of a new station
March 25, the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly "agreement Marines relocation to
Guam," minority report was adopted. Okinawa, Japan and the U.S. government
lies, and an insight into someone's cheating. Impose the rule of permanent
military bases in Okinawa to Guam excuse. Okinawa Congress to create a U.S.
military base in Guam and Okinawa in Japan's money is an abnormal
relationship between the United States, "to oppose construction of a new
station coastal HENOKO" is adopted.

NO NATO Event Participate

Southern Japan, from Strasbourg to participate in the event of U.S. military
bases in Okinawa, an island in the East. His base in Okinawa, Okinawa
Prefecture resistance, and I would like to report the destruction of natural
ecosystems and on military bases.

CD present.
Hotel Citea Strasboug ILLkirch.

We are a removal of U.S. military bases and for 64 years. Stop the
construction of 12 new Marine Corps air station. We will take our leaflets.
The photo in the history of our struggle. Dugong in the sea and the
construction of the base "coral museum" was a photo of the CD. It's a gift
to the Friends of the World Peace for the elderly HENOKO. FREE. I hope to
deepen friendship and peace and environmental groups in Europe.

Teruo Onishi

Board Member, The Dugong Preservation Fund
Captain of The Heiwa-Maru Fund
Chairman of Nago Peace Committee
Co-Chair, Conference Opposing Heliport Construction (Nago City)

Text fwd: [Korean Translated: For the Czech Rep. people] Solidarity message from Japanese citizens, Feb. 18, 2009

Solidarity message from Japanese citizens, 18th Feb. 2009

To friends in Europe who are against the Missile Defense system and the Space Shield

* This is also in http://www.space4peace.org/actions/gnconf_09/papers%20and%20reports.htm#two
as part of the Papers/Reports of the GN's 2009 conference

We are several citizen groups which are respectively committed in peaceful ways to movements of anti-MD system and anti-US Bases in Japan. We would like to convey, by this message, our solidarity with all who are against the deployment of the US MD system into the eastern Europe. We, who live with the various problems arising from many US bases occupying our homeland, always look enviously at the unified efforts in the anti-radar movement by citizens and the League of Mayors in Czech Republic. Your movement has encouraged us a lot and we thank you for that.

Japanese government introduced the MD system in Dec. 2003, and ever since, its deployment has been accelerated here along with the US’ deployment of its own MD system in Japan.

In June 2006, a transferable type of X-band radar was deployed by the US for the first time throughout the world in Shariki, a small, sparsely-populated town in the most-northern prefecture of Aomori on the main land of Japan. This was followed by its globally-second time-deployment into Israel in Sep.2008.

The US X-band radar in Japan is aimed at detecting possible ballistic missile launches from North Korea to Hawaii, making the Japanese main land and islands “a shield “ for defending the USA. This X-band radar in Shariki is guarded by BlackWater Worldwide, a US private military company infamous for its war crimes in Iraq War.

Along with this deployment, the US demanded a limited-flight-zone around Shariki for indefinite duration. This special demand was made just for one military facility, which was also for the first time. This zone has already turned out to be problematic, as the investigation of a maritime accident in the nearby sea was hindered due to the privileged agreement.

Japanese government has become deeply involved in the US MD system through the current joint
development with the US of the improved model of SM3 (Standard Missile 3), an improved intercepting missile loaded on an aegis cruiser. Presently, five US’ aegis cruisers based on Yokosuka, and two aegis cruiser belonging to our Maritime Self Defense Force are equipped with SM3, making the number of the latter four in the near future. As for PAC3 (Patriot Missile 3), it has been deployed in the US base in Kadena, Okinawa and in five bases of ASDF around Tokyo. Finally, ASDF is going to deploy PAC3 in its 11 bases throughout Japan. To our great anxiety, through this joint SM3 development and licensed production of PAC3 in Japan, Japanese private military companies have become one with those in the US, thus newly emerging in Japan as the Japanese military-industrial complex.

At the same time, the MD system in Japan has greatly eroded both the pacifism and the peace-oriented principles based on the Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan which stipulates the renunciation of war as a sovereign right and non-maintenance of armed forces with war potential. Specifically the MD system has watered down the three principles prohibiting exporting weapons, and also the principle stipulating peaceful use of the space.

Contrary to the propaganda by both the government of US and that of Japan, the US MD system, which would enable an easier first strike by making counter-attack powerless, should be called “a device for prompting pre-emptive attack.” And actually because of this nature, it has been causing chain reactions of armament expansion in northeastern Asia.

However, we will not just wait and see, letting this happen. Here in Japan, anti-MD movement is spreading through experienced local campaigns in PAC3 deployment areas. In the forthcoming April, the 17th international conference of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space will be hosted by its Korean Committee in Seoul, South Korea. We consider this a meaningful step towards turning the northeastern Asia, which is still under the atmosphere of the Cold War, into a nuclear & missile-free region. Those in South Korea who are against the US-Japan MD system and like-minded those in Japan will soon start cooperating.

Not only in Japan but in the world as well, poverty has spread because of economical and financial crises.
We should invest our taxes in getting rid of poverty or in environmental conservation, not in military spending. It is missile-reduction, not the Missile Defense, that is most necessary to us.

Let us keep up our efforts in order to realize our goal in common - a world free of the Missile Defense and missile attacks.

In solidarity,
Koji Sugihara ( No! to Nukes and the Missile Defense Campaign )

Endorsing groups:

No! to Nukes and Missile Defense Campaign / Tokyo
Peace Voice Action Network / Saitama
No to Patriot Missile! Action Committee against Narashino Base / Chiba
Yokosuka Peace Fleets / Kanagawa
Nonnuclear Citizen Declaration Campaign Yokosuka / Kanagawa
No! AWACS Society Hamamatsu / Shizuoka
No War Network / Aichi
Citizen Action Net Work Nagasaki / Nagasaki
Committee against the Co-use of Tsuiki JASDF Base by SDF and U.S Military and
Relocation of U.S Marines to Tsuiki Base / Fukuoka

_일본 시민 들의 체코 연대 메시지
Solidarity message from Japanese citizens_
2009 년 2 월 18일
미사일 방어 시스템과 우주 방어 시스템에 반대하는 유럽 동료들에 대한 일본 시민들의 연대 메시지

우리는 일본 내 미사일 시스템과 미군 기지에 반대하며 평화적인 방법으로 싸우는 것에 사명감을 갖고 각각 일해온 몇 개의 일본 단체들이다. 우리는 이 메시지에 동유럽내 미국의 미사일 시스템을 배치하는 것에 반대하는 이들과의 연대를 보낸다. 우리 조국을 점령하는 많은 미국 기지들로부터 일어나는 문제들을 겪는 우리는 체코 공화국의 시민들과 시장 연맹의 레이다 설치 반대 운동의 결속된 노력을 부럽게 바라본다. 당신들의 운동은 우리에게 용기를 불러 일으켰으며 우리는 그 것에 감사한다.

일본 정부는 2003년, 12월, MD 시스템을 소개했고 그 이후 미국의 일본내 MD 시스템 배치와 함께 그 배치가 가속화되었다.

2006년 6월, 일본 본토의 가장 북쪽에 있는 아오모리 관구의 작고 인적드문 마을, 샤리키에 사상 초유로 전이 능력를 가진 X-밴드 레이다가 배치되었다. 이 것은 2008 년 9월 이스라엘에 사상 두 번째로 배치되었다.

일본 내 미국X-밴드 레이다는 북한의 하와이로의 가능한 탄도 미사일 발사들을 탐지하는 것에 목적을 둠으로서 일본 본토와 섬들을 미국을 방어하는 “방패”가 되게 했다. 샤리키의X-밴드 레이다는 전 세계적으로 이라크 전쟁 범죄로 악명높은 미국 군사 사유 업체 블랙 워터에 의해 경호된다.

이 배치와 함께 미국은 샤리키 주위에 한정되지 않은 기간 제한 비행 구역을 요구했다. 이 특별한 요구는 단지 한 군사 시설을 위해 만들어지는 것일 뿐만 아니라 처음으로 요구된 것이다. 이 지대는 근처 해상 사고 조사가 특혜 협정때문에 방해받은 것등 이미 문제가 있는 것으로 드러났다.

.일본 정부는 최근 이지스 순양함 에 장착되는 요격 미사일인 개선된SM3 (Standard Missile 3) 모델등 미국과의 공동 개발을 통해 미국의MD 시스템에 깊숙히 참여하게 되었다. 현재 요코스카에 기반한 5개의 미국 순양함, 우리 해상 자위대에 속한 2 개의 이지스 순양함에SM3가 장착되어 있는데 후자의 숫자는 가까운 시일내 4개가 된다. 패트리어트 미사일3( PAC3, Patriot Missile 3) 로 말할 것 같으면, 그 것은 오키나와 가데나와 도쿄 주위ASDF의 5 개 기지들에 배치되었다. 최종적으로ASDF는 일본 전역을 통하여 11개 기지에 배치될 예정이다. 걱정스럽게도 일본 내SM3 공동 개발과PAC3특허 생산 개발로, 일본 사유 군사 기업들은 미국의 사유 군사 기업들과 하나가 되면서 일본 군산 복합체로 수면에 떠오르고 있다.

동시에 일본의MD 시스템은 평화 주의와 일본 헌법 9조에 기반한 평화 원리 원칙을 퇴행시켰는데 후자는 주권으로서의 전쟁을 포기하고 전쟁 잠재력있는 무장 병력을 유지하지 않는 것을 명기한다. MD 시스템은 무엇보다도 무기 수출을 금지하는 세 원칙들과 우주의 평화로운 사용을 명기하는 원칙을 퇴색시켰다.

미국, 일본 양국의 선전과는 다르게, 미국의MD 시스템은 대항 공격을 약화시켜 선제 공격을 더 쉽게 하는데 “선제 공격을 추진하는 장치”로 불려져야 한다. 그리고 사실 바로 이 본성때문에, 동북아에 무기 확장 연쇄 반응을 일으켜 왔다.

그렇지만 우리는 이 일이 일어나도록 보고만 있지는 않을 것이다. 여기 일본에서는PAC3 배치지역에서 경험있는 지역 캠페인들을 통하여MD 반대 운동들이 확산하고 있다. 다가오는 4월, 우주 무기와 핵무기를 반대하는 전지구적 모임Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space이 공동 주관하는 17 번 째 국제 회담이 대한민국 서울에서 한국 준비 위원회가 마련하는 가운데 열린다. 우리는 이 것이 아직도 냉전의 공기 아래 있는 동북아를 핵과 미사일이 없는 지역으로 전환시키는 의미있는 발걸음으로 여긴다. 대한민국의 미국-일본MD 시스템에 반대하는 이들과 일본의 같은 생각을 가진 이들은 곧 연대 협력을 시작할 것이다.

일본 뿐만 아니라 전 세계에서 경제와 재정 위기로 가난이 번져가고 있다. 우리는 군사 지출 아닌 가난을 제거하거나 환경을 보존하기 위해 우리의 세금을 투자해야 한다. 우리에게 가장 필요한 것은 미사일 방어아닌 미사일 축소이다.

미사일 방어와 미사일 공격으로부터 자유로운 세계라는 공통 목표를 실현하기 위해 우리의 노력을 지속적으로 하자-

연대의 인사를 보내며

코지 수기하라( 핵과 미사일 방어에 반대하는 캠페인)

배서 단체들

핵과 미사일 방어에 반대하는 캠페인/ 도쿄

평화 목소리 행동 넷워크/ 사이타마

패트리어트 미사일 반대 ! 나라시노 기지에 반대하는 행동 위원회/지바

요코스카 평화 함대/카나가와

비핵 시민 선언 캠페인 요코스카/카나가와

No! AWACS 사회 하마마추/시즈오카

전쟁 반대 넷워크/아이치

시민 행동 넷워크 나가사키/ 나가사키

SDF와 미군의 슈이키JASDF 기지 공동 사용과 슈이키 기지로의 미 해병대 이전을 반대하는 위원회/ 후쿠오카

* 위의 원문 사이트는 아래 몇 사이트와 함께 제 영문 블로그에도 실렸읍니다.

http://nobasestorieskorea.blogspot.com/search/label/Czech%20Republic%2FPoland%2FEastern%20Europe

* 그외 현재 브뤼셀에서 열리는 유럽 연합 의회를 맞아 체코 시장 130여명이 브뤼셀까지 버스를 타고 미국 미사일 방어망 시스템의 하나인 레이다 설치에 반대하는 시위 관련 기사, 4월 초 프랑스 스트라스부르그에서 열리는 NATO 반대를 위한 유럽 전역 움직인에 관련된 기사들을 다음 사이트 들에서 참고하실 수 있읍니다.



http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2009/02/us-catching-hell-on-foreign-policy.html
U.S. CATCHING HELL ON FOREIGN POLICY, Thursday, February 19, 2009

http://www.nenasili.cz/en/3107_meps-mayors-and-the-nonviolent-movement-rejects-star-wars-in-europe
MEPs, MAYORS AND THE NONVIOLENT MOVEMENT REJECTS “STAR WARS” IN EUROPE

http://www.nenasili.cz/en/3097_18th-february-news-from-bruxelles-and-other-cities
18th February: News from Bruxelles and other cities

http://www.nenasili.cz/en/3091_130-czech-mayors-protest-us-missile-defense
130 Czech Mayors protest US Missile Defense 17.2.2009 - Jan Tamáš