Japan and the United States agreed last week to a new plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station from urban Ginowan in the central part of Okinawa Island to Camp Schwab, located in Nago in the northern part of the island.
The two countries also announced an interim report over the weekend on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan and stepped-up cooperation between those forces and Japanese Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to both strengthen the U.S. deterrence in East Asia and reduce the burden placed on local communities around the bases. It is regrettable that the changes, which are great, were announced without prior explanations to the public.
These changes come at a time when East Asia faces potential crises such as North Korea's nuclear-weapons development and a military clash between China and Taiwan. The Japanese government needs all the more to make diplomatic efforts to eliminate seeds of conflict in the region, reduce friction with neighboring countries and alleviate possible misgivings over closer Japan-U.S. military ties.