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China News Service, August 20. According to a report by Japan's Ryukyu Shimpo, the construction of the new U.S. military base in Henoko, Okinawa, Japan officially started on the afternoon of the 20th local time, and a large number of Okinawa residents protested in front of the U.S. military camp.

It is reported that the project is led by the Okinawa Defense Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Defense. As the crane ship began piling operations on the coast of Oura Bay in Henoko, it means that the new base in Henoko has officially started construction.

According to reports, the project was strongly opposed by the people of Okinawa. On the 20th, a large number of people went to Camp Schwab of the U.S. military stationed in Japan to protest. In addition, some people took a boat to the construction site to protest.

According to previous reports, the Japanese and US governments agreed in 1996 to relocate the US military base in Futenma, Okinawa Prefecture to Henoko, Nago City. The new base plans to build two runways after reclaiming land.

The people of Okinawa believe that the relocation plan is actually to build a new base, so they strongly oppose it and demand that the US military base be completely moved out of Okinawa.

Despite opposition from Okinawa residents, the Japanese government began land reclamation operations in the Henoko area in December 2018, but soon discovered that the seabed foundation was soft and that 71,000 piles needed to be driven into the seabed to improve the foundation.

Despite strong opposition from Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki to the relocation plan, the Japanese government approved the design modification plan for the Henoko base on behalf of Okinawa Prefecture in December 2023 and pushed forward construction.

The Ryukyu Shimpo reported that although the Japanese Ministry of Defense stated that the base would not cause safety problems due to the soft foundation after its completion, relevant experts said that the base may still sink after completion.