Editorials
Monday, June 24, 1996
State can't pass up airport opportunity
TO the dismay of Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, the Okinawa prefectural assembly has approved a referendum on the presence of U.S. military bases on the island. There is little doubt as to the results. The bases have been an irritant for decades on Okinawa, and the issue was inflamed by the rape of a schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen last year. Hashimoto said the referendum "will complicate the issue very much, and I expect the results would be tough for the (central) government."
The prime minister is concerned because the national government wants the U.S. military to stay on Okinawa, where most of the 47,000 American troops in Japan are stationed. After protests erupted in the wake of the rape incident, Hashimoto and President Clinton agreed to reductions in the area occupied by U.S. forces on Okinawa, but said the troops would remain. Japan considers the U.S. military presence vital for its security.
The Okinawans are more concerned with their own problems and want the Americans out. But the issue is a national one and cannot be decided by the Okinawans alone. The referendum on Okinawa will undoubtedly produce a rejection of the U.S. presence but will resolve nothing.
Similarly, the state is faced with the need to decide the use of Barbers Point Naval Air Station after the Pentagon closes the base. People living nearby in Kapolei and Makakilo want it to become a massive sports facility.
But the state needs a general aviation airport to relieve traffic at Honolulu Airport. Barbers Point provides a unique opportunity to obtain one in a convenient location at minimal cost. This is not a chance the state can afford to pass up.
Just as the opinions of the people of Okinawa cannot be decisive on the issue of basing U.S. troops, the desires of the people living near Barbers Point cannot be permitted to override the state's need for a general aviation airport.
Other editorials in brief:
Tourists from Russia
SEEKING untapped markets, Hawaii's visitor industry looked to Japan and other East Asian countries, then Western Europe. But Russia? Improbable as it seems, the Russian market is beginning to be cultivated. And it could amount to something. A Russian airline, Orient-Avia, is interested in starting direct weekly flights between Vladivostok and Honolulu.
Russia and Hawaii have a connection dating back to the 19th century, as the ruins of the Russian fort in Waimea, Kauai, attest. Now that Soviet communism is dead and a market economy is being established in Russia, it may be time for a new Russian-Hawaiian connection through the visitor industry.
Nuclear energy
ALTHOUGH construction of nuclear power plants in the United States has stalled, with only one plant under construction last year, eight plants based on U.S. advanced reactor technology are being built in Japan and South Korea. In its annual survey of nuclear power, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that nuclear power plants now generate electricity in 31 countries and provide 17 percent of the world's electric power.
The use of American advanced technology in other countries offers hope that continued improvements may someday result in new orders for nuclear plants in the United States, although that is not likely for some years to come.
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Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor