TOKYO (AP) – Local authorities on Okinawa sued Japan’s central government on Friday in an attempt to stop the relocation of a U.S. air base, deepening their decades-long row over the heavy American troop presence on the southern Japanese island.
The Okinawa government says the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism illegally suspended the prefectural governor’s cancellation of approval for reclamation work needed to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to a less-populated part of the island called Henoko.
“We will do whatever it takes to stop the new Henoko base,” Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga told a news conference in the prefectural capital of Naha. “Okinawa’s argument is legitimate, and I believe that it will be certainly understood.”
The central government filed its own lawsuit against Onaga last month, after he rejected an order from the Land Ministry to reinstate approval, issued by his predecessor, for the land reclamation. The ministry went ahead with the reclamation work.
“We’ll proceed with the construction to achieve the planned relocation as soon as possible,” Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said in Tokyo.