US military bases in the Japanese island of Okinawa have Å“overwhelmed” the residents there and threaten their livelihood, an American antiwar activist says.
Å“Okinawa feels overwhelmed, the people of Okinawa feel overwhelmed by US military bases there,” said Bruce Gagnon, co-founder and coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space.
Å“As the US makes this pivot to surround China, the tensions in the region are getting worse and worse all the time, so the people of Okinawa know that in any kind of war between the United States and China, they would be a target and their lives would be destroyed,” Gagnon said.
Å“So theyâ„¢ve been organizing for some time to get all of the bases out of Okinawa.”
On Friday, the governor of Okinawa approved a controversial plan to relocate a US air base to a less populous part of the southern island, but said he would keep pressing to move the base off the island altogether.
The relocation plan is part of an agreement to move 9,000 Marines off Okinawa, including transferring 5,000 to Guam.
Å“The people (of Okinawa) are very angry … they feel very betrayed not only by the American government but even their own government (and) even by their own governor. The governor of Okinawa has betrayed them as well.”
Since the end of World War II, the island has been a reluctant host to the bulk of US military forces in Japan. About half of the 50,000 American military personnel in Japan are stationed on the island.
Gagnon said US military bases in Japan are part of Americaâ„¢s expanding military empire.
Å“The US military provocations now are literally global. The United States military empire is like a cancer, expanding and expanding all the time.”
AHT/DB
Source: Press TV