A three-day Group of Eight summit opens today in Okinawa, an unusual location for such a conference. Okinawa was the last major battlefield in the Pacific War, where Japanese Imperial soldiers fought the onslaught of U.S. military forces. During the fierce fighting, an estimated 100,000 Okinawan civilians died.
The late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi promoted the idea of hosting the summit. There is no way of finding out exactly why Obuchi wanted to have the summit held in Okinawa. However, I heard through the political grapevine, while Obuchi was alive, that he wanted to focus attention on the island chain, whose people suffered greatly in the war and during the subsequent U.S. Occupation, and who continue to be troubled by problems associated with the heavy U.S. military presence in the prefecture. Obuchi reportedly wanted to use the global attention as a springboard to develop the islands and to pave the way for a smooth transfer of U.S. Futenma Marine Air Station to a substitute site in the same prefecture.
U.S. President Bill Clinton, whose presence at the summit was in doubt while hosting the Middle East summit at Camp David, will now definitely be attending. According to the White House, Clinton, while in Okinawa, will visit a monument in the city of Itoman for victims of all nationalities who died in the Okinawan battle. There Clinton is expected to make a speech to thank Okinawans for their contributions to security in the Asia-Pacific region and to assure them of U.S. responsibility for the security of Okinawa. On reading news reports on the White House announcement, I was impressed with the attention the U.S. is paying to Okinawans' concerns.