The U.S. military is facing increased resistance from Japanese people over its plan to deploy the controversial Osprey transport aircraft at a U.S. Marine Corps base in Japan's Okinawa prefecture, despite the Pentagon reaching an agreement with the Japanese government.
Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima and Nago city mayor Susumu Inamine are in the forefront of the protests by local government officials and residents against the deployment of the aircraft which they say accident-prone. They are concerned about the safety of the aircraft, which has suffered a string of accidents. Test flights of the aircraft carried out by Japan's Defense Ministry had not removed their concern over Osprey's safety.
The Pentagon plans to ferry at least a dozen of the aircraft on Monday to the U.S. Futenma Air Station in Okinawa from another base on Japan's main island Honshu where they were shipped from the United States in July.
Nakaima told reporters on Thursday that it was regrettable that the U.S. was sticking to its original deployment plan despite concern expressed by the people of Okinawa over the aircraft's safety.
He also criticized Japan's central government for proceeding with the deployment without making any effort to move the Futenma base from Okinawa as promised by successive governments in Tokyo.
Nago mayor Inamine also expressed strong opposition to the plan at a news conference on Thursday. Nago is the planned relocation site for the Futenma base.
He said the Japanese and U.S. governments treat Okinawa as if it were still under post-war U.S. occupation. Until 1972, Okinawa was administered by a government installed by the U.S. military.
More than 100 demonstrators including civic group members are staging a sit-in in front of the Futenma base, demanding that the deployment plan be scrapped.
Japan's Defense Ministry conducted Osprey test flights for local government officials from a U.S. base in Iwakuni in Yamaguchi prefecture on Thursday.The Ministry had invited officials from 22 municipalities near Iwakuni and in Okinawa to take part, but 19 declined.
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