In her Sept. 4 article, "Futenma shift puts Hatoyama, U.S. ties to test," AP writer Mari Yamaguchi characterizes the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan as "staunchly pro-Washington." I would rather use the words "ridiculously subservient."
Washington made the best use of this master-servant relationship between Japan and the United States when it abruptly suggested the formal signing of the so-called Guam Agreement. Washington knew from the very start that the U.S. military realignment in Japan, and in Okinawa in particular, did not have the full support of the Japanese people and that the LDP would be certain to lose to the Democratic Party of Japan in an upcoming general election. So they scurried to hold negotiations with Tokyo while the LDP was still in power.
Who expected a DPJ victory of the magnitude achieved in the Aug. 30 elections? In Okinawa, the four candidates who oppose the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station's relocation within the prefecture won their parliamentary seats right across the board. Washington should bear this fact in mind.
The Guam Agreement may be an intergovernmental accord that is no longer negotiable, as Japan hands in the U.S. government like to say, but remember that it was signed under the above-mentioned master-servant circumstances and was devoid of the nation's full support.
In short, it was the product of a crafty foul play on the part of Washington. Therefore, everything related to the U.S. military realignment in Japan should be subject to re-examination and renegotiation now that the overwhelming majority of the Japanese people have presented a mandate for change.