The US military stationed abroad has become the source of new crown infection, and the host country is miserable
2022-01-13 10:27:58Source: Xinhua News Agency
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 12. Since 2022, the number of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. troops stationed in Japan, South Korea and other countries has hit a record high. The privilege of overriding local epidemic prevention regulations has made it a “break the embankment” to tear the defense line of the stationed in the country. The ant’s nest”, coupled with the “black history” of the US military stationed in Japan and South Korea in recent years, has made the local people, the media and the government complain and miserable.
U.S. troops stationed in Japan “contaminated”
Japan Quarantine “Breakdown”
Since the new year, the new crown epidemic in Japan has shown a sharp deterioration trend, and Okinawa Prefecture is the hardest hit area of this round of epidemic. The “in and out” of the U.S. military stationed in Japan completely disregarded Japan’s prevention and control measures, making Japan’s relevant policies “broken.” The actions of the U.S. military have aroused concern and anger over the spread of the epidemic in Japan. Okinawa Prefecture Governor Danny Tamaki angrily denounced the U.S. military stationed in Japan for “spreading the virus.”
According to public information, 70% of the special facilities for US troops stationed in Japan are concentrated in Okinawa. Okinawa Prefecture suffers from the suffering of the U.S. military, which has substantial “extraterritorial rights”. This time, a large number of U.S. troops stationed in Japan entered Japan uncontrolled, and also spread the Omicron strain outside the U.S. military base, causing another outbreak in Okinawa. In the middle of last month, a cluster of infections was reported at Camp Hansen in Okinawa. Okinawa media “Ryukyu Shimbun” reported on the 8th that according to the estimated number of US military bases in Okinawa and the proportion of confirmed cases, its infection rate is the highest in the world, equivalent to 1,905.3 new cases per 100,000 people in the past week.
Danny Yucheng pointed out a few days ago that the Omicron strain of the same origin as the infected person of the staff of the U.S. military base in Okinawa has spread in Okinawa Prefecture. There is no doubt that the U.S. military is the main reason for the spread of the epidemic in Okinawa.
This is the International Arrival Hall of Narita Airport T1 in Tokyo, Japan, taken on November 30, 2021. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Xiaoyu)
In addition to the U.S. military base in Okinawa, the U.S. military base in Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture is also the hardest hit by the epidemic. The U.S. military base in Yokosuka, Yokota, Zama and other bases have also reported outbreaks in recent days. The three counties of Okinawa, Yamaguchi, and Hiroshima began to implement key epidemic prevention measures on the 9th and entered a “quasi-emergency state” of the new crown epidemic. The governors of the three counties blamed the recent rebound of the epidemic on the spread of the Omicron strain with the personnel of the US military base stationed in Japan.
Japan’s efforts to keep the Omicron strain out of the country have been hampered by the “loopholes” of the US military stationed in Japan. Japanese Foreign Minister Lin Fangzheng confirmed on December 24 last year that the United States exempted all soldiers from the obligation to screen for the new crown before their arrival in September of that year, on the grounds that they had been vaccinated against the new crown. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed anger and asked relevant authorities to lodge a “strong protest” against the United States.
In view of the outbreak of new coronavirus cluster infections at several US military bases in Japan, the US and Japanese governments have decided to require all US military base personnel stationed in Japan not to go out unless necessary from the 10th of this month. However, in the face of the epidemic that has spread in the community, many Japanese people complain that it is “too late” to start restricting the US military personnel.
On June 19, 2016, in a park in Naha, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, citizens hold up signs reading “Remove (US) Marines”. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Shen Honghui)
For a long time, the U.S. military stationed in Japan, especially the U.S. military stationed in Okinawa, can be said to have “bad records”. According to statistics from Okinawa Prefecture, from 1972 to 2019, US troops stationed in Japan and their dependents committed more than 6,000 crimes in Okinawa, including robbery, rape, murder and other vicious crimes, which aroused angry protests from the Okinawan people many times.
What U.S. troops stationed in Japan brought to Okinawa was not peace, but disaster, destruction and death. The “All Okinawa Conference”, a political group in Okinawa Prefecture, issued a statement on the 7th, condemning the US military stationed in Japan as the culprit for threatening the lives of Okinawa people and causing obstacles to their lives.
Barracks party without masks
U.S. military stationed in South Korea hits record high
Recently, the epidemic situation in South Korea has become more severe again, and the government has to tighten epidemic prevention measures. At the same time, the US military stationed in South Korea was exposed to hold a party without wearing a mask in the military camp, which caused public criticism.
According to South Korean media reports, in the week from December 28, 2021 to January 3, 2022, the number of new confirmed cases of the new crown among US military personnel stationed in South Korea reached 682, setting a new high for the number of new cases of the US military stationed in South Korea in a single week.
Videos circulating on social media show that the Humphreys Barracks in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, held a large-scale party event with about 400 people on December 17 last year. The participants did not wear masks to eat, drink, sing and dance, and had no awareness of epidemic prevention. After the video was exposed, many South Koreans accused the U.S. military stationed in South Korea of not strictly abiding by the epidemic prevention regulations, and worried that the spread of the epidemic in the U.S. military base would be a drag on South Korea’s epidemic prevention work.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in instructed the epidemic prevention department on the 7th of this month to strengthen epidemic prevention measures for residents near US military bases in South Korea and the use of business premises by US officers and soldiers stationed in South Korea. The US military stationed in South Korea also announced that it will implement stricter epidemic prevention measures from the 9th, including prohibiting relevant personnel of the US military stationed in South Korea from going to shopping malls, bars, gyms, saunas and other facilities outside the base.
The U.S. military’s disregard for the anti-epidemic regulations in its presence stands in stark contrast to the severe epidemic situation in South Korea, which has aroused widespread criticism in South Korean society. At the end of May 2021, more than 2,000 foreigners, including U.S. soldiers stationed in South Korea, blatantly violated epidemic prevention regulations in the Haeundae area of Busan, gathering to drink alcohol and set off firecrackers for fun; in August of the same year, U.S. soldiers held an indoor dance at the Osan Air Force Base , ignoring social distancing rules and not even wearing a mask.
On December 29, 2021, overseas arrivals enter the arrival hall of Terminal 1 of Incheon International Airport in South Korea. (Xinhua News Agency/News News Agency)
In addition to ignoring epidemic prevention regulations, the U.S. military stationed in South Korea also has a “conspiracy” for a long time, and South Koreans have long been dissatisfied and protested. In August last year, the Korean civil society, the Korea Fire Safety Education and Culture Association, filed a lawsuit with the Busan District Court, asking the court to find that the U.S. military in South Korea repeatedly transported highly toxic and hazardous substances to South Korea between 2017 and 2019 violated South Korea. Related Laws. The person in charge of the association told the media that the US military stationed in South Korea ignored South Korean laws and secretly transported these substances to South Korea without any declaration procedures and conducted biochemical experiments, endangering people’s lives, health and safety.
On October 21, 2010, the U.S. Air Force F-16 “Fighting Falcon” fighter jets prepare to take off from the U.S. Army’s Osan Air Force Base in South Korea in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Published by Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Park Jin-hee)
Not only that, the news of the US military stationed in South Korea beating the Korean people also happened from time to time: on July 4, 2020, dozens of US soldiers set off fireworks in the streets of Haeundae, Busan, causing riots, and even threw firecrackers at ordinary citizens, causing public opinion. There was an uproar; at the end of May 2021, a drunken US soldier stationed in South Korea beat three South Korean citizens in Itaewon, Seoul; in early October last year, two US soldiers stationed in South Korea provoked a car driver for no reason on the streets of Hongdae, Seoul. Fighting, all kinds of domineering behaviors aroused the dissatisfaction of the Korean people. (Reporters: Hua Yi, Jiang Qiaomei, Deng Min, Lu Rui, Tian Ming, Sun Yiran, Jin Haomin, Liu Xiuling, Hui Xiaoshuang; Editing: Sun Shuo; Editors: Cheng Dayu, Wang Shen, Ma Xiao)
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Produced by Xinhua News Agency’s International Communication Integration Platform
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