Photo/Illutration Protestors off the coast of the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, denounce the government’s plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan to Henoko, on Dec. 14. (Minako Yoshimoto)

The government is slashing the budget to promote development of Okinawa Prefecture in an apparent attempt to oust Denny Tamaki, the prefectural governor who opposes Tokyo’s plans to build a new U.S. military base.

Kosaburo Nishime, the minister for Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs, said on Dec. 22 that the initial budget for fiscal 2022 would provide 268 billion yen ($2.3 billion) for Okinawa development, a decrease of 33 billion yen from the fiscal 2021 budget.

This is the first time in 10 years that the funding for Okinawa will drop below 300 billion yen.

At a news conference held after he discussed the outlay with Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki, Nishime said funding for Okinawa Prefecture will be reduced because the supplementary budget for fiscal 2021 already included 21.8 billion yen for promoting Okinawa.

However, the combined total of 268 billion yen and 21.8 billion yen doesn’t even exceed 290 billion yen.

The draft of the initial budget for fiscal 2022 is expected to be approved at a Cabinet meeting on Dec. 24.

The reduction appears targeted at Tamaki ahead of the gubernatorial election scheduled for autumn next year.

Tamaki opposes the government’s plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan in Okinawa Prefecture to the Henoko district of Nago in the northern part of the same prefecture.

Opponents of the relocation, including Tamaki, have thrown a number of legal challenges at the government’s plan in hope of delaying or even scrapping the project.

The Fumio Kishida government appears to be following in the footsteps of its predecessors in attempting to turn public opinion against the governor to break the impasse.

A source from the prime minister’s office said, “The budget cut is the central government’s message to people that Tamaki can’t bring money to Okinawa.”

The government has a history of increasing or decreasing the budget for Okinawa Prefecture depending on the governor’s stance on the Henoko issue.

In 2013, then Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima was expected to approve the government’s proposal to start landfill work for new U.S. military facilities at Henoko.

Shinzo Abe, who was prime minister at the time, pledged to secure 300 billion yen to 399 billion yen in funding for the prefecture every year until fiscal 2021.

The outlay for Okinawa in the fiscal 2014 budget was as high as 350.1 billion yen.

However, the Okinawa budget started to steadily decline after Takeshi Onaga, who was against the Henoko plan, was elected governor at the end of 2014.

(This article was written by Yusuke Miyata, Kazuki Uechi and Keishi Nishimura)

Related News