ID :
166873
Wed, 03/09/2011 - 16:14
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/166873
The shortlink copeid
Nago assembly adopts resolution slamming U.S. official's views
(Kyodo) - The Nago city assembly in Okinawa Prefecture unanimously adopted a resolution Wednesday criticizing comments attributed to a senior U.S. diplomat in which he allegedly disparaged local people.
With the planned site for the transfer of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station located in the city, the furor triggered by the reported remarks by Kevin Maher, head of the Japanese affairs office at the State Department, is likely to make it even more difficult for Tokyo and Washington to go ahead with the relocation.
The assembly called in the resolution for a retraction and apology by Maher, who is alleged to have said in a lecture late last year that the people of Okinawa are ''lazy'' and ''masters of manipulation and extortion'' in their negotiations with the central government.
The resolution described the remarks as ''very insulting'' and said they had made people in the prefecture, which hosts the bulk of U.S. forces in Japan, ''absolutely furious.''
It noted that the comments showed a lack of understanding of Okinawa's situation and reflected the viewpoint of an occupier.
The remarks have prompted other municipalities in the prefecture, which was occupied by the United States after World War II and reverted to Japan in 1972, to adopt similar resolutions.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference in Tokyo that the adoption of resolutions in Okinawa condemning the remarks was ''a matter of course.''
Edano, the top government spokesman, said Japan believes the United States will look into the reported comments appropriately and take necessary measures. But he said if not, Japan would take resolute action.
Raymond Greene, the U.S. consul general in Okinawa, said at a local news conference that the remarks did not in any way reflect the position of the United States.
According to a written account of the lecture given at the request of American University on Dec. 3, Maher also said, ''Consensus building is important in Japanese culture. While the Japanese would call this 'consensus,' they mean 'extortion' and use this culture of consensus as a means of extortion.''
Maher, former consul general in Okinawa, told Kyodo News that his lecture was off the record and the account, compiled by some of the students who attended, was ''neither accurate nor complete.''
Japan and United States struck a deal last May to relocate the Futenma base to a coastal area in Nago from a densely populated district of Ginowan, also in the prefecture.
But strong opposition remains, partly because the government led by the Democratic Party of Japan had raised expectations that the base would at least be moved outside of the southern prefecture.
With the planned site for the transfer of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station located in the city, the furor triggered by the reported remarks by Kevin Maher, head of the Japanese affairs office at the State Department, is likely to make it even more difficult for Tokyo and Washington to go ahead with the relocation.
The assembly called in the resolution for a retraction and apology by Maher, who is alleged to have said in a lecture late last year that the people of Okinawa are ''lazy'' and ''masters of manipulation and extortion'' in their negotiations with the central government.
The resolution described the remarks as ''very insulting'' and said they had made people in the prefecture, which hosts the bulk of U.S. forces in Japan, ''absolutely furious.''
It noted that the comments showed a lack of understanding of Okinawa's situation and reflected the viewpoint of an occupier.
The remarks have prompted other municipalities in the prefecture, which was occupied by the United States after World War II and reverted to Japan in 1972, to adopt similar resolutions.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference in Tokyo that the adoption of resolutions in Okinawa condemning the remarks was ''a matter of course.''
Edano, the top government spokesman, said Japan believes the United States will look into the reported comments appropriately and take necessary measures. But he said if not, Japan would take resolute action.
Raymond Greene, the U.S. consul general in Okinawa, said at a local news conference that the remarks did not in any way reflect the position of the United States.
According to a written account of the lecture given at the request of American University on Dec. 3, Maher also said, ''Consensus building is important in Japanese culture. While the Japanese would call this 'consensus,' they mean 'extortion' and use this culture of consensus as a means of extortion.''
Maher, former consul general in Okinawa, told Kyodo News that his lecture was off the record and the account, compiled by some of the students who attended, was ''neither accurate nor complete.''
Japan and United States struck a deal last May to relocate the Futenma base to a coastal area in Nago from a densely populated district of Ginowan, also in the prefecture.
But strong opposition remains, partly because the government led by the Democratic Party of Japan had raised expectations that the base would at least be moved outside of the southern prefecture.
