CAMP BUTLER, Okinawa Pref. — In recent months, the issue of the relocation of Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Futenma has gotten a great deal of attention in the news — so much so that it has almost overshadowed the significance of this year being the 50th anniversary of the revision of the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security.
This is unfortunate because the U.S.-Japan alliance is an essential international public good that has served not only the mutual interests of Japan and the United States but those of the entire Asia-Pacific region for the past 60 years since the original security treaty of 1952.
It is also unfortunate because the discussion of Futenma's relocation often takes place without a proper or correct understanding of the role, functions and capabilities of this important air station. Wild statements are made, such as in a recent letter to The Japan Times in which the reader wrote that the air station "has not been operational since the termination of the Vietnam War." As a result, impractical solutions are put forth that blur and emotionalize the debate further.