7/23/2019 wtf card
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Hayes 2001(Declan Hayes is a Professor of International Business
at
Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan: The Toothless Tier, p! "#$$
%%%
in&icate pararaph 'reaks D) $*
Currently, only the American bases in Okinawa maintain the
political tranquility of theSouth China Sea, and even they are no
panacea. Roughly 20,000 of the 29,000 troops on Okinawa are Marines
attachedto the Seventh leet, and they are routinely deployed
anywhere in the Seventh leet!s sprawling operating areas of the
"estern#acific and $ndian Oceans. Okinawa is, in other words,
%erely a convenient parking lot& the fact that it is on
'apanese soil is
secondary to its %ain policing %ission. (hese ) S. Marines have
nothing to do with the defense of Okinawa** or the rest of
'apan for that %atter. Recent revelations of ).S. plans to +last
the island and its inha+itants to s%ithereens in the event of a
Soviet attack have not endeared ).S. forces to the locals who
re%e%+er how the 'apanese $%perial r%y wantonly sacrificed
the% as literal cannon fodder in their +attles against the
%ericans in -9/. On the positive side, the +ases do show
Okinawa!scontinuing strategic i%portance, the )nited States did not
want the island falling into ene%y hands. Cold consolation to
the
Okinawans, +ut consolation nonetheless. (he fact is that
Okinawas strategic position gies it immense
alue to the ! nite" S tatesand her allies, a alue that the
opponents of the American alliance
"ownplay# when they "on$t "ismiss itout of hand. Okinawa remains
the linchpin of
American military power in the Asian arena. Okinawa is Americas
front line in the South
China Sea. (he oint %erican and 'apanese forces statione" there
preent China$s nay from
asserting itself in the South China Sea. Okinawa is the fallback
position if Americaan"herallies are eer again pushe" off the %uwait
peninsula. Okinawa is the base from which
American reinforcements will be rushe" to &aiwan in a
"ooms"ay situation. Okinawa
keeps the sea lanes open' it preseres the status quo the (a)
Americanathat has +een so good
to 'apan. nd therein lies the ru+. *t keepsa non*sian power# the
! nite" S ates, at the helm of Asia an"
therefore keeps a %aor sian nation, China# "own+,,,lthough this
%akes good housekeeping sense in
"ashington, it spells strategic disaster (okyo. -ust as
America$s with"rawal from Subic .ay create" a
acuum that China1uicklyfille"# soalso will the aban"onment of
Okinawacreate another#
bigger acuum that China will also fill+ China$s lea"ers are
using nationalistic rhetoric to
keep their ast regime together#an" any "iminution of the
American forces in Okinawa
will only encourage China to increase its war of wor"s. ecause
-apanhas +een as 1uiet as a %ouse
for the last fifty years, it is ill equippe" to engage in the
propagan"a wars that will ensue when theSeventh leet weighs anchor*
'apan will wake up to find )ncle Sa%!s navy gone +ack to 3awaii and
her own neigh+or
descending into anarchy. nd -apan will be helpless to reme"y the
situation+ China is not the
only source of concern. ar fro% it4 Asia is awash with flash
points that the ! nite" S tates#
-apan# an" their allies must continue to monitor. (hese include
the four %urile *slan"s,
occupie" by /ussiasince -9/ andclaime" by -apan' orth %orea,
still isolated, still ar%ed, and still
e5tre%ely dangerous' the iaoyo,Senkaku *slan"s,su+ect to rival
clai%s +y 'apan, China, and (aiwan&&aiwanitself, under
al%ost continuous %ilitary threat fro% China& yanmar,
controlled +y an oppressive %ilitary unta Ca%+odia,
e%erging fro% decades of strife and %ayhe% and always facing the
prospect of war with 6ietna%& the Spratly $slands,variously
clai%ed +y China, the #hilippines, 6ietna%, Malaysia, (aiwan, and
runei& Mindanao, where Musli% insurgents
continue to under%ine the govern%ent of the #hilippines&
7ast (i%or, the for%er #ortuguese territory anne5ed +y $ndonesia
in
-98/ and only now e%erging fro% an $ndonesian*inspired genocide
ca%paign& $ndonesia itself, sia!s ugoslavia, the world!s
%ust populous Musli% nation, awash with ethnic and sectarian
strife& %ashmir# the epicenter of a nuclear
roulette game between *n"ia an" (akistan& and ougainville,
fighting for independence fro% #apua :ew;uinea. nd then, of course,
there is the chaos of Russia, the for%er
