Ichita Yamamoto, Japan's State Minister for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs, paid a visit to the Philippines earlier this month. He said he would look at how the Southeast Asian nation converted the former US military facilities and bases for civilian use in order to apply these principles to the area south of the Kadena Air Base. He also reiterated Japan's stand on its row with China over the Diaoyu Islands. Though sounding fair and reasonable, the two intentions may eventually lead to completely contrary consequences.
As a hot spot for the US military forces, Okinawa has always attracted attention. The residents of Okinawa have long protested against the US presence, but to no avail.
Washington has been reluctant to withdraw its military forces, because Okinawa serves as a strategically important region. It is located near the Taiwan Strait and the Korean Peninsula as well as a number of Southeast Asian nations.
In addition, the US military forces have been operating in Okinawa for many years and the infrastructure to support them has been built up.
More importantly, the Japanese government pays part of the costs of stationing US soldiers there, even including the salary of Japanese staff providing logistical services. That offers a more reasonable explanation why the US forces are unwilling to leave such a "comfortable" base.
Tokyo has been ignoring the request of Okinawa residents, as it attaches more importance to its relations with the White House than the public opinion on the islets.
Nonetheless, the Obama administration is willing to make some compromises given the long-term development of the US-Japan alliance. Washington has agreed to return to Japan the relatively small area and facilities south of the Kadena Air Base, which is no longer an ideal military base as the major cities of Okinawa are concentrated in the southern part.
Therefore, Yamamoto made a trip to the Philippines to get information on how the former Clark Air base and the nearby Subic Bay Naval Base were successfully converted into industrial complexes.
The Abe administration also expects to see superb economic performances in Okinawa to relieve the fiscal burden of the central government. It is reported that the 2014 budget request to revitalize Okinawa is about 340 billion yen ($3.43 billion), far more than the 300 billion yen ($3.03 billion) this year. That comes as a huge cost for the debt-ridden Japan.
However, insightful Japanese and Okinawa residents are deeply aware that it is more critical to strengthen economic ties and people-to-people exchanges with China through better utilizing the geological advantage of the islets than learn from the Philippine experience.
Projects including industrial zones, science and technology parks and duty-free ports were once on the development agenda for the backward prefecture. But Japanese corporations will not build up factories there without easy access to the huge Chinese market.
Meanwhile, Chinese enterprises ambitious to expand business in their East Asia neighbor met with obstacles when trying to make the geologically close Okinawa a bridge.
Take a typical example. The Japanese government has not approved of setting up a Chinese consulate in Okinawa, forcing local Chinese to fly to Fukuoka, a thousand kilometers away, to cope with relevant business.
Yamamoto's visit to the Philippines to clarify the position of the Abe administration on territorial disputes just pours fuel on the already strained China-Japan relations. Territorial disputes are a bilateral issue but Japan chooses to collude with the Southeast Asian country to confront China, which demonstrates that it lacks self-confidence.
In contrast to his original intentions, the minister's trip may sabotage Tokyo's ties with Beijing and further isolate Okinawa.
Today tourism has become the biggest industry in Okinawa, so it will be bound to enjoy smooth development as long as Sino-Japanese relations show signs of improvement.
The author is a former bureau chief with the Guangming Daily stationed in Tokyo. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn