Written on May 9, 2019, this essay examines the danger of Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki’s reported request to a Chinese vice premier to make use of Okinawa within the Belt and Road Initiative.
It argues that such a move runs counter to Japan’s national strategy, ignores the realities of Taiwan-related security risks and China’s debt-trap tactics, and exposes the failure of major Japanese media outlets such as Asahi and NHK to confront a matter that should be central to national debate.

2019-05-09
Neither the Okinawan media nor Japan’s national newspapers criticize this kind of thinking on national defense on the part of the Governor of Okinawa.
I cannot help but find all of this abnormal.

I have mentioned several times that there are things that resonate with one another.
Late last night, all of a sudden, regarding Okinawa… a solution came to mind that appears simple, yet is in fact the most essential one, and I sent it out.
As if to prove that my solution was correct…
Yoshiko Sakurai has informed us, in her serialized column in this week’s issue of Shukan Shincho, of a truly outrageous fact.
This is precisely the kind of grave issue that ought to be debated in the Diet and elsewhere.
The fact that Asahi, NHK, and others say nothing at all about this, while devoting long airtime to LGBT matters or sexual 피해 issues, makes me even suspect that this is in fact to conceal facts such as this.
Governor Tamaki of Okinawa and his ingratiating diplomacy toward China.
It is a somewhat old story now, but it is said that on April 18, Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki requested Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua to “make use of” Okinawa within the “Belt and Road.”
The Belt and Road Initiative is a Chinese-style plan for world domination.
Its methods, which choose no means, have become the object of criticism around the world, and both the Japanese and U.S. governments hold strong concerns about it.
Prime Minister Abe said that Japan, too, would cooperate with the Belt and Road, but only on the premise that each project must ensure transparency, openness, economic viability, and the fiscal soundness of the target country.
If those four conditions on the right are met, there would be no reason Japanese companies should not participate in the project.
But in reality, it would be an extremely difficult task for China to satisfy these conditions.
The Japanese government has thus not abandoned its cautious stance toward China.
Tamaki’s request to the Chinese vice premier runs counter to his own government’s diplomatic policy, because at the very moment when the Japanese government, as a matter of national strategy, is attaching strict conditions and remaining vigilant toward the Belt and Road, he directly approached a foreign government.
As governor, is this not utterly beyond the pale?
This matter was not reported in the national newspapers, but Okinawan newspapers covered it.
The Yaeyama Nippo and the Ryukyu Shimpo in my possession reported Tamaki’s regular press conference on April 27.
The appeal to the Chinese government was something Tamaki himself disclosed at that same press conference.
According to the two papers, Tamaki visited China from April 16 to 19 as a member of a delegation of the Japan-China Economic Relations and Trade Association, chaired by Yohei Kono.
On the 18th, he met with Vice Premier Hu and first requested that “Okinawa be utilized as Japan’s gateway in relation to the Chinese government’s proposed broad economic sphere concept, the Belt and Road.”
Hu is said to have immediately expressed his “approval.”
Requested President Xi to visit Okinawa.
When asked by reporters about the risk that, after receiving massive Chinese loans, debt repayment could stall and ports and land could be seized, Tamaki “showed a proactive stance, saying, ‘while gathering information, we will explore how we can be involved’” (Ryukyu Shimpo).
When asked about the increasingly unstable security environment and China’s military buildup, Tamaki replied that “it is beneficial to deepen the overall ties among nations through such things as international exchange,” and also revealed that he had asked Hu to have President Xi Jinping visit Okinawa (Yaeyama Nippo).
I could not help but question whether Tamaki understands the meaning of his own remarks.
Above all, how does he understand his own role?
A governor is not supposed to be vested with diplomatic authority.
And yet, to work to incorporate Okinawa into the Belt and Road not only exceeds the governor’s authority, it also runs contrary to the diplomatic policy of the Japanese government.
Under the banner of the Belt and Road Initiative, dangerous power games are being developed, and as governor he ought to have a sense of crisis about that, yet none can be felt.
As it happened, on May 2 the U.S. Department of Defense issued its “Annual Report on Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China,” warning of the dangers of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Among the report’s points is an analysis of China’s Taiwan strategy, the point with the greatest impact on Japan.
The report states that the top strategic priority of the People’s Liberation Army is the Taiwan issue, and explains in detail that while China advocates “peaceful unification,” it has steadily continued to strengthen its military power in preparation for the use of force.
As military actions China could take in the event of a Taiwan Strait contingency, it lists “air and maritime blockade,” “the disempowerment and weakening of Taiwan’s leadership through cyberattacks and infiltration operations,” “limited precision bombing of military bases and political centers,” and “an invasion of Taiwan.”
Xi Jinping does not deny the use of military force against Taiwan.
Strategic specialists in the international community believe that China will certainly move to seize Taiwan.
If Taiwan falls into Chinese hands, Okinawa will be next in danger.
That is precisely why the Governor of Okinawa should, more than any other politician, be the one most on guard against the Belt and Road.
The method of seizure is not limited to military force.
As the Pentagon points out, in twenty-first century warfare, cyber, information, and economics are major keys.
The Belt and Road is likely the means by which China will bind others hand and foot through its economic power and seize them.
The Pentagon report also sends a clear message about the possibility that Belt and Road-related investment may create Chinese military superiority.
For example, if China builds a port in a particular country, that means establishing logistics bases in those ports for the Chinese navy operating far away in the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic, thereby naturally creating the foundation for China’s world domination.
Even without waiting for the Pentagon’s warning, we should already have experienced many such examples.
A striking example can be seen in Djibouti, where China placed its first overseas military base.
Everything is abnormal.
Djibouti is a strategic key point overlooking the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.
In addition to China, the United States, France, and Italy have military bases there, and the Self-Defense Forces also have a small foothold.
But China’s military base is entirely different in character from those of the other countries.
The bases of countries other than China are positioned surrounding Djibouti International Airport, but China alone built a marine base near the coast, quite some distance away.
According to Masahisa Sato, the State Minister for Foreign Affairs who inspected the site, the Chinese military base is vast, and structurally it has precisely the character of a fortress.
That base is adjacent to a port built with Chinese funds, and in addition to Chinese naval warships, commercial vessels also come and go there.
What deserves attention is that a railway has been laid to that port, and it extends as far as neighboring Ethiopia.
The Belt and Road and military strategy are fused together.
Even more astonishing is the largest free trade zone and logistics center in Africa that China has built in Djibouti.
The construction cost was 3.5 billion dollars, and to understand how serious a debt this is for Djibouti, it is enough to know that Djibouti’s GDP is 2 billion dollars.
This is the debt trap laid by China.
Sri Lanka handed over Hambantota Port to China for 99 years as collateral for its debt.
Djibouti may well follow the same fate.
Looking at these facts, Tamaki’s request to China to make Okinawa a base for the Belt and Road is the height of folly.
While calling for a review of the current Japan-U.S. security framework that prepares for the Chinese threat, and opposing the relocation of Futenma Air Station to Henoko, he is astonishingly defenseless toward the immeasurable threat in which China’s economy and military are integrated.
China, which regards the Senkaku Islands as a core interest, is almost constantly deploying armed Chinese vessels in the waters around those islands.
Yet I know of no protest Tamaki has made to China on this matter.
Neither the Okinawan media nor Japan’s national newspapers criticize this kind of thinking on national defense on the part of the Governor of Okinawa.
I cannot help but find all of this abnormal.