JSN■星条旗新聞が9月20日「沖縄防衛決戦」集会を報道
■星条旗新聞が9月20日「沖縄防衛決戦」集会を報道
http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/japan/okinawans-rally-in-support-of-u-s-security-treaty-1.118860
【翻訳】
沖縄県那覇市で、沖縄中国と日本の間で緊張が高まる中、珍しいプロベースの集会が行われ、支持者は月曜日、沖縄に米軍の数を減らすことを求める時ではないと主張。
250名が集会には集まり、日米安全保障条約を支持、沖縄と共に自立国家日本を再建する草の根ネットワークと米軍基地ネットワークユニオン、米軍基地の日本人従業員労働組合が共催で行われた。
10スピーカーによる講演に続いて、参加者は、ハイウェイ58巻に沿って日本とアメリカの旗を掲げ、日本政府は中国に対して強い姿勢を取ること、日米同盟を強化することを求め行進した。
(中略)
“日本は今危機に直面している、 “仲村敏子さんは、那覇市の会場である武道競技場内の観客に退職した先生と述べた。
“尖閣諸島は中国の一部をされたことがない”と彼女は言った。日本は、琉球王国として栄えた沖縄を19世紀に併合した。しかし沖縄は、実際に中国に属していると主張する中国学者の最近の主張を批判している。
国場幸之助氏は、元沖縄県議会議員、沖縄県民の反軍事感情は、中国の地域覇権に貢献するかもしれない、と警告した。
NAHA, Okinawa With tension increasing between China and Japan, now is not the time to seek reducing the number of U.S. troops on Okinawa,advocates at a rare pro-base rally here Monday.
Some 250 supporters of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty attended the event,co-sponsored by All Japan Jiritsu Saiken Network and the U.S. Forces Base Network Union, a pro-military labor union for Japanese employees on military bases.
Following speeches by 10 speakers, participants marched along Highway 58 hoisting Japanese and U.S. flags and banners that demanded the Japanese government take a strong stance against China and strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance.
The group also supports the current bilateral agreement to close Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, in urban Ginowan, and move the air units to a new facility to be built on Okinawa’s rural northeast shore.
The rally comes as Japan-China relations have become strained because of an incident near the island of Ishigaki, between Okinawa and Taiwan.
On Sept. 8, the captain and crew of a Chinese commercial fishing vessel were detained by Japanese authorities a day after their boat allegedly struck two Japan coast guard vessels in disputed waters south of Ishigaki.
Fourteen crew members and the boat were returned to China on Sept. 14, but the captain remains detained and faces criminal charges.
China vowed on Sunday to take “strong countermeasures” if Japan fails to release the captain. China already postponed bilateral talks with Japan on a proposed treaty to allow joint development of a gas field in the disputed waters and cut back on allowing Chinese tourists to visit Japan.
The area where the incident took place is near the uninhabited Senkaku Islands, administered by Japan and claimed by both China and Taiwan.
“Japan is now facing a crisis,” said Toshiko Nakamura, 89, a retired school teacher who addressed the crowd inside a martial arts arena in Naha.
“The Senkaku Islands have never been part of China,” she said. She criticized recent claims by Chinese scholars that claim Okinawa actually belonged to China when the island prospered as the Ryukyu Kingdom before Japan annexed the islands in the 19th century.
Konosuke Kokuba, a former Okinawa prefectural assembly speaker, warned that anti-military sentiment growing on Okinawa could contribute to China’s regional hegemony.
“When a U.S. servicemember is arrested for drunken driving or vandalism, it gets profuse media attention,” he said, knocking Okinawa’s anti-military media. “But the local media remains quiet concerning the Senkaku Islands.”
The pro-base supporters are a distinct minority on Okinawa, where about 90,000 people attended a rally in April to protest any new U.S. base construction on the island.
