Written on May 13, 2019, this essay examines China’s increasingly aggressive actions around the Senkaku Islands, Ishigaki City’s acceptance of a Ground Self-Defense Force deployment, and the strong backlash from Okinawan media, arguing that Okinawan reporting on national security is deeply distorted and that Yaeyama voters are being asked to adopt a broader, bird’s-eye perspective.

2019-05-13
Even the anti-base camp is forced to admit the present reality in which China does whatever it pleases.
However, the reaction of the Okinawan media to Mayor Nakayama’s statement of acceptance was severe.
The following is a continuation of the previous chapter.
Backlash Against Ishigaki’s Acceptance of a JSDF Deployment
Three Chinese Coast Guard vessels entered the contiguous zone outside the territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands from New Year’s Day of 2017, and on the 4th they intruded into territorial waters.
The mentality of the Chinese government, which engages in acts of provocation at the very beginning of the new year, is beyond the understanding of us Okinawan citizens who love peace.
Yet China’s hardline posture of saying, “We will not retreat even one step this year either,” is unmistakable.
In December 2016, the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning passed for the first time between Okinawa Main Island and Miyako Island and advanced into the Pacific Ocean.
It carried out such operations as aerial refueling training for carrier-based aircraft.
Chinese state media reported on the movements of the Liaoning day after day and proclaimed to domestic and foreign audiences alike that “the navy’s actual combat capability has already been formed.”
According to the Tokyo Shimbun on January 4, it also became clear that in a promotional video produced by the Chinese navy for pilot recruitment in 2017, footage was used depicting the Senkaku Islands as “Chinese territory” and suggesting that Chinese military aircraft were driving away Japan Self-Defense Force aircraft.
Most of it was said to be training footage combined with computer graphics and the like.
China’s aggressive actions around Okinawa show no sign of stopping.
Yoshitaka Nakayama, mayor of Ishigaki City, which includes the Senkaku Islands within its administrative area, held a press conference at city hall on December 26 and declared that he would accept the Ministry of Defense’s plan to deploy the Ground Self-Defense Force to Ishigaki Island.
More than a year had passed since the Ministry of Defense first approached the city with the deployment plan in November 2015.
Considering China’s moves around the Senkaku Islands, the statement of acceptance was almost too late.
Mayor Nakayama said, “I have the recognition that the enhancement of the defense posture in the Southwestern Islands region is extremely important.”
On the very day Mayor Nakayama announced his acceptance of the deployment, the Chinese Coast Guard again intruded into territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands.
A city council member from the opposition camp who opposed the deployment lamented, “Whether it is the aircraft carrier’s advance into the Pacific or the intrusion of government vessels into territorial waters, it is almost as if China is encouraging Japan’s remilitarization.”
Even the anti-base camp is forced to admit the present reality in which China does whatever it pleases.
However, the reaction of the Okinawan media to Mayor Nakayama’s statement of acceptance was severe.
The Ryukyu Shimpo criticized it in an editorial, saying, “A GSDF deployment will instead heighten tensions in the Sakishima Islands,” while the Okinawa Times criticized it as lacking proper explanation to residents and being unreasonable.
The Yaeyama local paper, Yaeyama Mainichi Shimbun, denounced Mayor Nakayama, saying he should either withdraw his acceptance of the deployment or resign and seek a renewed mandate.
Only the Yaeyama Nippo, of which I serve as editor-in-chief, emphasized that “considering the situation surrounding the Senkaku Islands, accepting the deployment is an appropriate decision.”
From here on, with the JSDF deployment issue as the axis, the pro-mayor and anti-mayor camps are likely to confront each other fiercely toward the Ishigaki mayoral election expected around March 2018.
In the interview introduced at the beginning, Yuriko Koike said in a message to the residents of Yaeyama, “In daily life, people tend to look only at what is in front of them and become ‘insect-eyed,’ but from time to time, if they become ‘bird-eyed’ and look at the whole from above, they realize that things they see every day possess tremendous power.”
The voters of Yaeyama will likely be asked whether they can possess that “bird’s-eye” view of Yaeyama within the world and make a choice that thinks about the future of Okinawa and Japan.
This essay will continue.