Japan to Harbor Nuclear-Powered Carrier

October 28th, 2005 at 19:13 Björn Hallberg

Yokosuka is getting a replacement. And the unholy alliance between Japan and the US is affirmed once more, much to the peril of the region.

AP via Agonist - United States and Japanese officials have agreed to allow the Navy to station a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Japan for the first time, the Navy announced Thursday.

Though American troops have been based in Japan since the end of World War II, the Japanese public has long been wary of a U.S. nuclear presence because of concerns about possible radiation leaks. The decision comes 60 years after the United States brought the war to an end by dropping atomic bombs on a pair of Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“The security environment in the Western Pacific region increasingly requires that the U.S. Navy station the most capable ships forward,” the Navy said in a statement. The deployment of the carrier, the Navy said, will “fulfill the U.S. government’s commitment to the defense of Japan, and the maintenance of international peace and security in the Far East.”

This is the second deal to come to light this week between the two governments, in advance of high-level meetings Friday and Saturday at the Pentagon between U.S. Defense and State Department officials and Japanese military and foreign ministers. On Wednesday, U.S. officials struck a deal with Japan to build a heliport at an American base in Okinawa.

It’s more than a risk of a “radiation leak.” In fact it is a goddamn insult to the Japanese people just months after the commemoration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Bottom line: The US is still an occupying force after 60 years and the virtually US engineered one-party government obviously doesn’t mind.
To be fair, Japan does get economic concessions, like for instance virtually limitless exports to the US market. On the other hand, this system is on life support and does do considerable damage to the US economy. Trade deficits and all that.
Also, Japan do end up paying for much of the US bases (yes, having the bases there is actually a loss for the Japanese) and often other frivolities, like the first Gulf War, when Japan footed US$13 billion of the total US$82 billion military bill.

The real danger is of course that moves like these incite the same violent reaction that the US claims to defend against. The situation in the region as a whole is in fact better than in decades save fore North Korea which remains a nominal problem (and an artificially supported one) that could easily be solved if the US and its cohorts in South Korea would stop grandstanding and set up a proper peace accord.

Regarding the heliport, the US just can’t seem to let go of Okinawa. And the Japanese government still doesn’t seem to care about the inhabitants of the island. No doubt, they will now expropriate a new patch of fine farmland and give the old base grounds back as a symbolic gesture, filled with contaminants (everything from oil spills to DU), rendered utterly useless for human resettlement.
Of course, we know that Okinawa has been home to a full range of NBC weaponry (I believe they euphemised it to WMD these days), and probably still is. As such, a Nuclear Carrier isn’t really the point. The point is the affirmation of the ongoing relationship and its consequences. And the continuous suffering of the people who have to share their land with socially inept Americans and their environmentally destructive bases.

As for the claim that carriers are still the “most capable ships,” many would disagree with that conclusion. Because of improvements, especially in missile technology, the overconfidence in carriers could be a dire mistake. It may work when you take pot shots at Iraq or Somalia or whatever but against a more formidable enemy, armed with say Sunburn (Moskit) anti-ship missiles, the outcome is not so certain, especially in a tight spot, like the Tawian strait.

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