The Cabinet Office's decision to request a smaller budget for Okinawan development isn't due to the political tension with Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga, but because Tokyo has a tight budget and Naha still has funds leftover from last year, the new state minister in charge of Okinawa affairs said in a joint interview.
The Cabinet Office cut its fiscal 2017 budget request for Okinawan development to ¥321 billion from ¥335 billion in the initial fiscal 2016 budget, the first drop since Shinzo Abe began his second stint as prime minister in December 2012.
Speculation has grown that Abe trimmed the request in retaliation for Onaga's staunch refusal to back the long-delayed relocation of U.S. Marines Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan. The two sides are battling it out in court.