World

Little 'Sympathy' On Okinawa

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

July 13, 2000 / 6:13 PM EDT / CBS

Almost 30,000 people formed an 11-mile human chain around Kadena Air Base on Okinawa Thursday to protest the U.S. military presence there, reflecting an anger fueled by recent allegations that an American serviceman molested a 14-year-old girl.

Some 22,000 police, most flown in from other parts of Japan, were deployed to monitor the protest at the base, but no violence was reported.

CBS News Correspondent Barry Petersen reports that during the cold war, America's military umbrella was welcomed on Okinawa. About 26,000 of the 48,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan are stationed in Okinawa—just over one-quarter of the total U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

But several recent incidents involving U.S. troops and Japan's souring economic outlook have changed those perceptions.

America's presence in Japan costs Japanese taxpayers close to $3 billion a year as they pay salaries for 23,000 local workers on American bases. Here, that money is referred to as "the sympathy budget."

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Okinawa was occupied by the United State from the end of World War II in 1945 until 1972. Because Japan's post-war constitution imposed severe restrictions on its military forces, thousands of U.S. troops remained after the occupation ended to defend the country. In 1978, with America's economy sagging and Japan's booming, Japan started defraying the cost of stationing American forces here.

Now, it's America with the booming economy, and Japan's that's gone bust, prompting many locals to call for a reassessment of who pays for the U.S. presence.

In a possible deal timed to this week's G-8 summit, President Clinton is expected to accept a slight reduction in payments of U.S. troops' utility bills by the Japanese, but Americans don't want any deep cuts in the sympathy budget.

"It becomes very difficult for me to go before Congress to request large amounts of increases if there is a perception that our allies are reducing their commitments," Secretary of Defense William Cohen said recently.

America gets economic help from most countries where its troops are based, but no one digs as deep as the Japanese. Britain pays about 17 percent of he cost of stationing troops there; Germany contributes 22 percent. Japan pays 76 percent.

Some in Japan's government defend the payments.

"The main purpose for paying this amount of money is defense of Japan and also stability in the region," said Kohei Masuda of the Japanese Defense Agency, although he acknowledges most Japanese citizens would rather see less of their money fund foreign troops.

They would also like to see an end to incidents like the alleged molestation by the U.S. Marine and the recent hit-and-run accident for which a U.S. airman was detained. Emotions are still raw from the 1995 gang-rape of a local girl by three U.S. servicemen.

At the Kadena protest, banners proclaimed "Bases Out Of Okinawa," "Get the Bases Out of the Prefecture" and "American Troops Go Home!"

Protest organizer Seishu Sakaihara explains the reason for the demonstration. "55 years ago Okinawa was the only place in Japan to suffer a land battle," Sakaihara said, referring to the estimated 200,000 killed during the 1945 Battle of Okinawa. America lost 12,000 dead in that battle.

"In all of Japan we have the greatest experience of suffering in this way. So we don't want this tragic history to repeat," said Sakaihara. "If we permit the bases to stay, we are allowing war."

The Kadena base commander, General James Smith, says he welcomes the protest as part of the democratic process but does not know how the G8 leaders will react. "I don't know how this will be interpreted. In many ways, these people just deserve to be heard."