Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga, who led opposition to US military bases on the southern Japanese island, has died of pancreatic cancer at 67.
He underwent surgery in April for the cancer and resumed work in May. Onaga had said he was determined to fulfill his duties and live up to the expectations of Okinawans who supported his fight against a US military base relocation plan and the heavy US troop presence on the small island.
Okinawa Deputy Governor Kiichiro Jahana had earlier on Wednesday said that Onaga had lost consciousness on Tuesday.
Photo: AP
The deputy, with teary eyes, said he was temporarily assuming Onaga’s duties, although he still hoped for the governor’s recovery.
Hours later, Jahana told reporters Onaga had died.
“I’m really, really sorry about the outcome,” he said.
Onaga on Saturday last week told him that he still wanted to pursue his effort to stop the relocation, Jahana said.
Local rules require an election within 50 days to choose Onaga’s successor.
Onaga was born in 1950 in the prefectural capital, Naha, when Okinawa was still under US occupation after World War II.
He was elected in November 2014 on a pledge to scrap plans to relocate a US Marine Corp air station to a less densely populated part of the island and close the air station instead.
Opponents of the plan say it only shifts the burden and the base should be moved off the island entirely.
Onaga often confronted top central government officials, saying that Tokyo’s approach was high-handed and neglected the will of Okinawans.
In 2015, Onaga criticized Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga for “looking down on” Okinawans, citing Suga’s comment that the government planned to go ahead with the relocation plan.
Onaga filed a series of lawsuits against the central government, seeking a court injunction to stop landfill at the planned relocation site. He was preparing another legal action when he died.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese