guardian.co.uk,
Justin McCurry in Tokyo, Friday 27 April 2012
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| The US marines Futenma base on Okinawa, Japan. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters |
Japan and
the US have agreed to relocate thousands of US marines from Okinawa in a move
aimed at reducing the island's military burden amid lingering anger among
residents over pollution, accidents and crime.
Under a
deal reached in Washington late on Thursday, about 9,000 marines will move from
the southern Japanese island to the US Pacific territory of Guam and other
locations in the region, including Hawaii and Australia.
By shifting
a large portion of the 19,000 marines on Okinawa, leaders in Tokyo and
Washington said they hoped to reduce the US military footprint on the island
while retaining a strong enough presence to deal with security emergencies in
the region.
In a joint
statement, the US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, and the secretary of state,
Hillary Clinton, said the agreement would honour Washington's commitment to defending
Japan and maintaining stability in an "increasingly uncertain security
environment".
"Japan
is not just a close ally, but also a close friend," Panetta said
separately. "And I look forward to deepening that friendship and
strengthening our partnership as, together, we address security challenges in
the region."
No date has
been given for the $8.6bn (£5.3bn) move – of which Japan will pay $3.1 billion
– and questions remain over the fate of Futenma, a sprawling marine base
located in Ginowan, an Okinawan city of 95,000 people.
Earlier
this year, President Obama signalled a shift in US military priorities towards
the Asia-Pacific region, after a decade of prioritising expensive wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
The
potential for volatility in east Asia was underlined by North Korea's recent rocket launch and the prospect of a third nuclear test by the regime.
There is
concern, too, over Beijing's military spending and long-standing disputes
between China and Japan over territory and energy resources.
"I
think we have made some progress and this plan offers specific and
forward-looking action," Japan's foreign minister, Koichiro Gemba, said,
adding that Japan wanted to "reduce the burden on Okinawa".
But the agreement,
made days before the Japanese prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda, meets Obama in
Washington, is unlikely to satisfy residents living near Futenma, a cause of
friction between successive US and Japanese administrations.
Local
opposition to the US military presence on Okinawa reached a high point in 1995
after three servicemen abducted and raped a 12-year-old girl.
The crime
prompted the US and Japan to look for ways of reducing the military presence on
Okinawa, which comprises less than 1% of Japan's total area, yet hosts
three-quarters of all US bases and just under half its 47,000 troops.
The talks
led to a 2006 agreement under which Futenma was to be relocated to Henoko in a
less populated part of Okinawa, and 8,000 troops moved off the island by 2014.
The Futenma
question remains unresolved, however, after the government in Tokyo failed to
persuade people in Henoko – an ecologically important stretch of coastline – to
agree to host the new offshore base. Most residents of Okinawa want the base
moved off their island altogether, but the government has failed to find a new
host community.
Up to 5,000
troops – about 3,000 fewer than envisaged in the original 2006 agreement – will
be sent to Guam, according to a US defence official quoted by Associated Press
in Washington. The remainder will move to Hawaii or rotate between Australia
and other parts of the region.
Kurt
Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state for east Asian and Pacific
affairs, said the deal should satisfy congressional critics who had denounced
the original plan as confused and expensive.
"We
think it breaks a very long stalemate that has plagued our politics, that has
clogged both of our systems," he said.
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