ID :
167262
Thu, 03/10/2011 - 17:30
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/167262
The shortlink copeid
Okinawa governor protests Maher's remarks, seeks probe
NAHA, Japan, March 10 Kyodo - Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima on Thursday protested comments by senior U.S. diplomat Kevin Maher that reportedly insulted the people of the southern Japan prefecture and urged Washington to investigate whether Maher did indeed make the remarks.
Nakaima handed a letter of protest to Raymond Greene, the U.S. consul general in Okinawa, at the prefectural government, in which he said Maher's alleged remarks ''severely hurt the dignity of people in the prefecture.'' He also described Maher's comments as ''regrettable.''
The governor asked the United States to release the results of the probe. Maher has been removed from the chief post at the U.S. State Department's Office of Japanese Affairs over the controversy stemming from his alleged comments, according to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.
Greene said Maher's reported statements do not represent the views of the United States, but said it is regrettable that the issue has upset the people of Okinawa.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos will visit Okinawa later in the day to offer an apology to Nakaima over the case, Greene added.
The protest letter said the adverse effects of Maher's alleged statements ''could ruin past efforts made by Okinawa as well as the Japanese and U.S. governments to solve various problems.''
After meeting with the governor, Greene told reporters he regrets the current situation as he believes it is important to deepen trust between the United States and people in Okinawa.
Maher reportedly described people in Okinawa as ''masters of manipulation and extortion'' in a briefing to American University students in December before their trip to Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. bases in Japan.
Maher told Kyodo News that a written account by students of the briefing is ''neither accurate nor complete.'' He also claims that the briefing was off-the-record.
In Washington, Mark Toner, acting deputy spokesman of the U.S. State Department, told a daily briefing on Wednesday that the United States ''can't confirm whether they (the remarks) are true or not or actually stated, but as reported, don't accurately reflect'' the U.S. relationship with Okinawa and with Japan.
In a related development, Okinawa's Ginowan city assembly adopted a resolution lashing out at Maher's alleged statements.
The remarks ''were an unforgivable challenge to the people's will,'' the resolution said, urging Maher to retract them and apologize.
The resolution also blasted Maher, a former consul general in Okinawa, for describing the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in the city as ''not especially dangerous.''
''A helicopter crash occurred at Okinawa International University. There is immeasurable anxiety and fear among the citizens,'' the resolution said, referring to a 2004 accident in which a Marine copter from the Futenma base crashed onto a building of the nearby university.
On Maher's description of people in Okinawa as ''masters of manipulation and extortion,'' the resolution said, ''It is absolutely unacceptable. Okinawa is treated as all but a colony.''
Nakaima handed a letter of protest to Raymond Greene, the U.S. consul general in Okinawa, at the prefectural government, in which he said Maher's alleged remarks ''severely hurt the dignity of people in the prefecture.'' He also described Maher's comments as ''regrettable.''
The governor asked the United States to release the results of the probe. Maher has been removed from the chief post at the U.S. State Department's Office of Japanese Affairs over the controversy stemming from his alleged comments, according to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.
Greene said Maher's reported statements do not represent the views of the United States, but said it is regrettable that the issue has upset the people of Okinawa.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos will visit Okinawa later in the day to offer an apology to Nakaima over the case, Greene added.
The protest letter said the adverse effects of Maher's alleged statements ''could ruin past efforts made by Okinawa as well as the Japanese and U.S. governments to solve various problems.''
After meeting with the governor, Greene told reporters he regrets the current situation as he believes it is important to deepen trust between the United States and people in Okinawa.
Maher reportedly described people in Okinawa as ''masters of manipulation and extortion'' in a briefing to American University students in December before their trip to Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. bases in Japan.
Maher told Kyodo News that a written account by students of the briefing is ''neither accurate nor complete.'' He also claims that the briefing was off-the-record.
In Washington, Mark Toner, acting deputy spokesman of the U.S. State Department, told a daily briefing on Wednesday that the United States ''can't confirm whether they (the remarks) are true or not or actually stated, but as reported, don't accurately reflect'' the U.S. relationship with Okinawa and with Japan.
In a related development, Okinawa's Ginowan city assembly adopted a resolution lashing out at Maher's alleged statements.
The remarks ''were an unforgivable challenge to the people's will,'' the resolution said, urging Maher to retract them and apologize.
The resolution also blasted Maher, a former consul general in Okinawa, for describing the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in the city as ''not especially dangerous.''
''A helicopter crash occurred at Okinawa International University. There is immeasurable anxiety and fear among the citizens,'' the resolution said, referring to a 2004 accident in which a Marine copter from the Futenma base crashed onto a building of the nearby university.
On Maher's description of people in Okinawa as ''masters of manipulation and extortion,'' the resolution said, ''It is absolutely unacceptable. Okinawa is treated as all but a colony.''
