Based on official Public Security Intelligence Agency reports and Michio Ezaki’s analysis, this article exposes how the Chinese Communist Party has systematically exploited anti-base movements and “Ryukyu independence” narratives in Okinawa to divide Japan and weaken the U.S.–Japan alliance.

China’s Strategy Behind the “Ryukyu Independence” Movement in Okinawa
2017-02-14

The following is an excerpt from an article by political commentator Michio Ezaki, titled “China–South Korea Rapprochement! The Day a Chinese Base Is Built on Jeju Island,” published in the March issue of the monthly magazine Seiron.

It is a paper filled with facts that most Japanese citizens—and people around the world—are learning for the first time.

[Omitted preceding text]

China Behind Anti–U.S. Base Movements

Moreover, behind South Korea’s growing anti-American sentiment and Okinawa’s anti-base movements, there is China.

In December last year, Japan’s Public Security Intelligence Agency stated in its 2017 edition of Review and Prospects of Internal and External Situations that Chinese universities and think tanks have been advancing academic exchanges with groups and individuals in Okinawa who advocate “Ryukyu independence,” thereby deepening their relationships.

The agency pointed out that behind these exchanges lies a strategic intent to form public opinion favorable to China in Okinawa—where U.S. military bases are concentrated—and to foment divisions within Japan. It warned that China’s future activities regarding Okinawa “require close attention.”

From my perspective, one can only say: what took them so long to notice?

The situation is far more serious.

The Chinese Communist Party government has consistently opposed U.S. military bases in Okinawa since the postwar period, but it is no longer merely cooperating with private groups. Coordination has already begun at the administrative level between the Chinese Communist Party government and Okinawa Prefecture.

This became full-fledged in November 1990, when Masahide Ōta, Professor Emeritus of the University of the Ryukyus, was elected governor of Okinawa.

While Governor Ōta stirred up anti–U.S. base movements, he simultaneously began cooperation with the government of China’s Fujian Province, and from 1994 onward, Okinawa Prefecture and Fujian Province held annual summits.

In May 1996, the prefecture adopted the Basic Plan for International City Formation, explaining its intent as follows:

“In the 1990s, deepening exchanges with China’s Fujian Province, Taiwan, South Korea, and North Korea was the vision of the Ōta administration for the 21st century. That was the core of the international city formation concept.” (Vice Governor Yoshimoto)

Based on this policy, official cooperation with China, North Korea, and South Korea was fully expanded, and in 1998, the nationality requirement was abolished from the prefectural civil service recruitment examination.

Although such movements were halted during periods of conservative prefectural administration, the underlying current has steadily expanded.

This essay continues.