JAPAN-U.S.: Okinawa Rape Case Puts Defence Pact in the Balance

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Oct 5 1995 (IPS) - Japanese outrage over the rape of a 12-year- old girl by three U.S. servicemen in Okinawa continues to mount one month after the incident, threatening a bilateral defence pact considered crucial to regional security.

A panel of experts from the two countries met in Tokyo Thursday to discuss revising a provision in the 1960 U.S.-Japan Security Treaty that allows U.S. authorities to hold crime suspects until they are indicted by Japanese courts.

“Emotions are running high against the U.S.-Japan security pact and the government will be forced to ask Washington for some concessions if it is to be maintained,” says Akio Watanabe, a professor of international law at Tokyo University.

Okinawa governor Masahide Ota has asked the Japanese government to review the accord and reduce U.S. military presence on the island.

About 30,000 of the 45,000 U.S. troops in Japan — the largest U.S. contingent stationed in Asia since World War II — are based in Okinawa. The tiny island is also home to three-quarters of all U.S. military facilities in the country.

On Wednesday some 400 protesters gathered in front of the Foreign Ministry, one of many similar demonstrations held that day, and called on the government to scale back U.S. military operations in Japan.

“We will not rest till Japan revises the U.S.-Japan Security Pact which gives U.S. troops too much freedom in our country,” a protester screeched into a microphone.

Okinawa residents had for years tolerated many other crimes by U.S. soldiers and the deafening noise from airplanes conducting night flying operations, because they believed U.S. presence was an important pillar of Japan’s security policy.

But the rape of the schoolgirl and the U.S. refusal to hand over the suspects to local authorities were the last straw for the people of the island.

“If we don’t achieve anything this time to stop the harassment, the unbearable situation will go on,” said one resident.

U.S. military facilities occupy a third of the island. While Okinawans live in cramped quarters, the U.S. troops enjoy sprawling premises complete with huge swimming pools and shopping malls catering only to U.S. servicemen and their families.

Critics point out that although U.S. soldiers make up 4.2 percent of the local population, they account for more than 75 percent of felony cases in Okinawa.

Governor Ota last week refused to sign documents necessary to forcibly use the land of local residents for U.S. military purposes. Current land leases are up for extension in March.

Despite rising anti-U.S. sentiment in Japan over the rape case, senior government officials have indicated they have no intention of conducting a full-scale review of the U.S.-Japan agreement.

Defence experts say Japanese leaders are reluctant to open the bilateral defence pact for a full review in light of the rising tension in the Korean peninsula and China’s expanding nuclear arsenal and muscle-flexing in the South China Sea.

Under the bilateral agreement, Japan contributes 4.8 billion dollars, or 70 percent of the operation costs of U.S. bases in Okinawa. The government has pledged to increase its share by two percent next year.

But analysts warn that unless the government finds a suitable compromise soon, the problem could swell to alarming proportions.

Okinawa, one of the poorest prefecture in Japan, has long been a thorn on the side of the central government in Tokyo.

The picturesque tropical island, some 1,500 km south-east of Tokyo, was an independent kingdom with its own language and culture until it was assimilated into the Japanese empire in the late 19th century.

During World War ll the island was sacrificed by Japan’s military, turning it into a bloody defence line against the U.S. forces.

Some 150,000 local residents, 100,000 Japanese soldiers and more than 12,500 U.S. troops were killed in the only land battle fought in Japan during the war. The island reverted to Japanese sovereignty in 1972 after 27 years under U.S. administration.

Okinawans consider themselves Japanese, but they harbour great resentment towards mainland Japan. While they helped the Imperial Army fight the U.S. forces during the war, the Japanese soldiers robbed them and drove them out of their shelters.

Survivors say about 10,000 islanders, including many children, were forced out of their hiding places in caves and were killed by Japanese soldiers as the landing of the U.S. forces neared.

The Japanese Imperial Army also warned women they would be raped by U.S. soldiers upon their capture, prompting many young women — even pregnant ones — to commit suicide.

Even today, Okinawans feel mainland Japan considers them second- class citizens, as shown by the government’s decision to put most of the U.S. facilities on the tiny island.

“The backlash against the U.S. bases is also directed towards the Japanese government,” says Watanabe. “People are frustrated and very angry. Something must be done fast by both the United States and Japan for the sake of security in East Asia.”