Dutch soldiers were shocked to see at the US military base in Okinawa, and the first person to discover the incident told this newspaper an exclusive account of what had happened
On May 15, Okinawa will celebrate the 52nd anniversary of the so-called "return" to the Japanese mainland. Okinawa, which occupies only 0.6% of Japan's territory, hosts more than 70% of the U.S. military bases stationed in Japan. Over the past long years, the Japanese government has not only turned a blind eye to the continuous protests of the people of Okinawa against the US military bases, but has accelerated military deployments and led to an escalation of the situation. Some people in Okinawa recently discovered that Dutch naval soldiers had actually appeared on the training ground of the US military base in Okinawa, and the two sides were suspected of conducting military training, and all kinds of indications showed that the Japanese Foreign Ministry did not seem to know about this in advance. On the 14th, the people of Okinawa who discovered the incident exclusively told the reporter of the "Global Times" what happened.
Akino Miyagi, 45, was born on Hambiga Island in Uruma City, Okinawa Prefecture, and began participating in anti-base demonstrations in high school. As an entomologist, in 2011, she discovered that artillery shells and other items at U.S. military bases had a bad impact on the local ecological environment, so she has been committed to opposing U.S. military bases and other activities as a military environmental researcher for a long time.
In an interview with the "Global Times" reporter on the 14th, Miyagi Akino said that in late March, she protested at the US military training ground in northern Okinawa as usual, and found several soldiers wearing different styles of camouflage uniforms on US military trucks. Normally, U.S. military trucks would return to base after driving out of the northern training ground, but that time she saw several trucks coming in and out of the training ground, and the trajectory was different from usual.
According to public information, the northern training ground is located in Kunigami County in northern Okinawa Prefecture, and is the base of the US military stationed in Okinawa and the largest military exercise ground in Okinawa Prefecture. In 1998, it was renamed the Jungle Warfare Training Center (JWTC).
After discovering the anomaly, Miyagi Akino logged on to the website of the Defense Visualization Information Service (DVIDS) under the U.S. Department of Defense, and one of the articles showed that from March 10 to 24, 2024, the U.S. military and the Dutch Navy conducted a training called the "Jungle Leaders Course" at the Okinawa Jungle Warfare Training Center, adding that "this training is designed to prepare the United States and its allies to fight in a difficult jungle environment." (pictured below)
Akino Miyagi told the Global Times that she immediately contacted the Okinawa Defense Bureau, who said that she did not know about the training of Dutch soldiers at the training ground of the US military in Okinawa.
Miyagi Akino believes that there are various indications that the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not seem to have known about this matter in advance. According to the Okinawa Times, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in response to inquiries that it had confirmed with the U.S. and Dutch militaries that three Dutch soldiers had indeed entered the U.S. military's northern training ground in Okinawa in March, but the ministry claimed that the purpose was "inspection" rather than "training." When asked whether it had prior knowledge, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied ambiguously, saying that "individual cases cannot be generalized." It is reported that Dutch soldiers disguised themselves as ordinary passengers and entered Japan from civilian airports on commercial flights.
The people of Okinawa have been plagued by US military bases for many years, and in recent years, the Japanese government has become seriously right-leaning and accelerated its military deployment in Okinawa, causing the local people to live in panic. The Okinawa Ryukyu Shimbun newspaper reported that the information released by the DVIDS claimed that the training was conducted by the US military to help the allied forces "familiarize themselves with the combat environment." From this point of view, it cannot be ruled out that in the future, soldiers from other countries will enter the US military base in Okinawa for combat training, and this has aroused concern about the normalization of the phenomenon of forces from third countries entering the US military base in Okinawa. Okinawa Prefecture Governor Danny Tamaki said that the US military did not inform Okinawa Prefecture in advance what kind of training it would conduct, but in any case, the joint training of the US military and foreign troops will not reduce the burden on the base.
However, as of press time, the "Global Times" reporter checked the DVIDS website and found that the expression of "Dutch Navy" in the original article had been deleted from the relevant article (as shown below).
Akino Miyagi told the Global Times that there are only two facilities used by the US military to train jungle warfare around the world, one in Hawaii and the other at the northern training ground in Okinawa. The environment in the northern training ground is very similar to the actual environment in some countries, and it has obvious advantages in daily military training. For example, there are no infectious diseases such as malaria in the jungle, there are no wild animals such as tigers, the radio signal is strong, and it is relatively easy to get water from the rainwater of the mountains and rivers, and even if you are injured, you are relatively close to the hospital.
She also said that the so-called "Jungle Leaders Course" generally involves entering the jungle on a Sunday, starting with a five-day camping session that ends on Friday. The whole process must be a collective action that reinforces the soldier's mindset of unconditional obedience to orders.
NHK reported that the Japan-US Security Treaty allows the U.S. military to use its facilities and areas in Japan. In other words, the military of countries other than the United States is not allowed to use these facilities and areas. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs told NHK that it had learned that Dutch soldiers had visited the northern training ground in March, and that both the United States and the Netherlands described it as an "inspection," not a "training." Under the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, the United States has the right to administer U.S. military installations and areas, and is allowed to enter U.S. military facilities in some cases as long as they are not participating in U.S. military training. Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers the appearance of the Dutch soldier "no problem" this time. However, some Japanese analysts believe that even the so-called "inspection" is actually an understanding of the strategic layout, which can be understood as some form of training.
According to the Ryukyu Shimbun, the Japanese government claims to allow third-country soldiers to enter US military bases in Okinawa under certain circumstances, but has not announced specific standards to the outside world. In 2016, two British Marine Corps officers participated in U.S. Marine Corps training at Camp Schwab and Camp Hansen in Okinawa. In 2017, the Philippine Navy trained with the U.S. Navy at Camp Schwab in Okinawa. Cases of third-country militaries conducting training at US military bases in Okinawa have occurred from time to time, but what has been made public is only the tip of the iceberg.
According to the report, in response to China, the U.S. Marine Corps has been conducting so-called "Expeditionary Forward Base Operations" (EABO) training at the northern training ground, and the possibility of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member countries joining this training is not ruled out in the future. Allowing foreign military forces to enter Okinawa without knowing it would put a new burden on the local population.
Miyagi said that it is unacceptable for third-country soldiers to take commercial flights as ordinary passengers and enter the US military base in Okinawa through civilian airports to participate in military training. Despite the signing of the Status of Forces Agreement between Japan and the United States, many issues remain unresolved. The absence of documents between Japan and the Netherlands means that any incident caused by Dutch soldiers in Okinawa may not be held accountable. Once this phenomenon becomes normalized, it will undoubtedly increase tensions in Okinawa.
Akino Miyagi told the Global Times that the reason why the above situation happened in Okinawa is mainly because in the view of the United States, "the use of US military bases in Germany and other countries is accompanied by many restrictions, while US military bases in Japan, especially in Okinawa, can be used 'as they like'." Despite its hostile nature, the reality is that the Japanese government has no concern at all about what Okinawa is experiencing. ”
Global Times reporter Xing Xiaojing