TOKYO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki's efforts on Thursday to persuade the central government to halt its landfill work in Okinawa for the relocation of a controversial U.S. base fell on deaf ears.
Separate talks with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga and Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya, just one day before the central government plans to fully start landfill work in Okinawa's coastal Henoko region, which will be the new site of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, amounted to nothing, Tamaki told reporters after the meetings.
After meeting with Suga, Tamaki told reporters he implored the central government to rethink its plans to relocate the base within Okinawa. Suga, however, maintained the central government's stance that it "recognizes the position of Okinawa, but will proceed with the work."
Iwaya, for his part, maintained that the current location of the Futenma base (in Ginowan) meant that, as per a deal struck with the United States, the current relocation plan remained the "only solution."
The Okinawa prefectural government's appeal for the suspension of work for the relocation of the controversial base was dismissed by a lower court with the ruling upheld by the Naha branch of the Fukuoka High Court on Dec. 5.
Okinawa hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan, yet the tiny sub-tropical island accounts for just a small fraction of Japan's total landmass.
As well as shouldering the majority of U.S. bases and being victims of U.S. base-linked workers' criminal activities, which span rape and murder, to driving under the influence of alcohol, as well as a steady flow of accidents and mishaps involving U.S. military aircraft, the new location for the base has an extremely delicate ecosystem unique to Okinawa that the locals desperately want to protect.
Tamaki was elected as governor in September's gubernatorial election on a platform of opposing the base's relocation and lessening Okinawa's base-hosting burdens and has since been pushing to resolve the issue through dialogue with the central government.
The central government, however, despite Tamaki's push for face-to-face talks, has forged ahead unilaterally with land reclamation work necessary to build the new base after the land ministry issued an injunction to suspend Okinawa revoking a permit for the landfill work.
Tamaki had previously said that the central government's persistent push to continue with the landfill work is completely unacceptable and against the will of Okinawans, who wish to see the base moved outside of Okinawa and Japan altogether.
Tamaki told reporters Thursday that he conveyed to Suga that the central government maintaining such a forceful position on the issue would lead the Okinawan people to "voice their anger even stronger."
