TOKYO, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga on Wednesday rebuked remarks made by the U.S. military, which claimed that the decision of two helicopter pilots to make emergency landings in Okinawa, Japan's southernmost Prefecture, were correct.
U.S. Pacific Command chief Adm. Harry Harris had said that he was satisfied that the helicopter crews' decisions to make emergency landings on a sandy beach close to a residential home and at a waste disposal site near a resort hotel were correct.
He intimated that the choices the crews made were preferable to the two aircraft returning to their base at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, located in a densely populated area of Okinawa.
Onaga, a staunch proponent of easing the base-hosting burdens of the people of Okinawa, slammed Harris' remarks, saying that the issue was not as much to do with the crews' decision making at the time, but the "sloppy" safety standards of the U.S. military's maintenance protocols that led to the incidents in the first place.
Onaga was referring to two incidents involving military choppers making emergency landings in quick succession recently in Okinawa.
On Monday, an AH-1 attack helicopter was forced to land in the village of Yomitan after a UH-1 helicopter made a forced landing on Ikei Island in the city of Uruma on Jan. 6.
Along with officials in Okinawa, local residents are becoming increasingly incensed at the frequency of U.S. military-linked mishaps and anti-U.S. sentiment is steadily growing on the tiny sub-tropical island that hosts the bulk of U.S. military bases in Japan.
Such indignation led to the municipal assembly of Yomitan on Wednesday unanimously approving a resolution protesting the forced landing of the attack helicopter.
The resolution states that the incident follows a similar emergency landing of a U.S. military helicopter on Jan. 6. It adds that the unusual series of incidents brought about villagers' intense anger.
The attack helicopter, which made the landing at a waste-disposal site, close to a resort hotel in Yomitan Village on Monday belonged to the controversial Futenma base, as did the UH-1 heavy-lift transport helicopter, which made an emergency landing on a sandy beach close to a residential home on Ikei Island on Jan. 6.
The resolution is directed at both Japanese and U.S. governments and states in part that: "The incident stirred strong anxiety and shock among villagers and their anger has hit boiling point," and that training for all military aircraft deployed at Futenma should be suspended until the causes of the problems are determined.
The resolution also calls for the streamlining of U.S. bases in Okinawa, the withdrawal of U.S. Marines from Okinawa and a thorough revision of the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).
In December last year, a resolution demanding all U.S. military flights over schools and hospitals be suspended was unanimously adopted by the Okinawa prefectural assembly.
The move by the prefectural parliament of Okinawa followed a heavy window falling from a U.S. military helicopter the same month and landing on the grounds of an elementary school, narrowly missing scores of children taking a sports class there.
"No more threat to the lives of people in Okinawa should be tolerated," part of the resolution states, with the same message of protest being carried by a number of similar resolutions also adopted by municipal assemblies in Okinawa.
The resolution refers to other military-linked accidents in Okinawa, including a CH-53E helicopter crashing and catching fire near the U.S. military's Northern Training Area, just 300 meters away from a residential area in Okinawa in October last year.
An AH-1 attack helicopter also based at Futenma making an emergency landing last year on a farm path also sparked fear and outrage from locals.
Along with the resolution, a statement of protest was also sent by the assembly to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. Ambassador to Japan William Hagerty highlighting the frequency of U.S. military-linked accidents in Okinawa.
According to the assembly: "A feeling of distrust is mounting among Okinawa people as these incidents vividly illustrate that the U.S. military's measures to prevent similar accidents are not functioning."
