TOKYO (AFP)--Japan's lower house Tuesday approved a multi-billion-dollar plan to transfer 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa island to Guam by 2014, despite objections from opposition parties.
Under the agreement, Japan would pay up to $2.8 billion for infrastructure and other work in relocating the Marines and their 9,000 dependents to the U.S. Pacific territory.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Japan's Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone signed an agreement in February on the relocation project, part of a wider 2006 bilateral accord on transforming US force deployments in Japan.
The plan is expected to be voted down in the opposition-controlled upper house but is assured final approval under a constitutional provision that gives the lower chamber precedence on international accords.
The Democratic Party of Japan and other opposition parties have rejected the plan, citing doubts about its cost breakdown and related plans to move a U.S. Marine airfield from a city to a scenic Okinawa shore.
Okinawa - where a bloody battle was fought in the closing days of World War II - has since the war been the reluctant host of more than half of the 40,000 U.S. troops based in Japan.
Many Okinawans are opposed to the related plan to move the Marine airfield to the shore, citing environmental and other concerns.
But the Clinton-Nakasone accord tied this plan to the pullout to Guam aimed at reducing the burden of the U.S. military presence in Okinawa.
Okinawan islanders have long complained of noise from military operations and a series of crimes committed by U.S. servicemen.
Under the agreement, Japan would pay up to $2.8 billion for infrastructure and other work in relocating the Marines and their 9,000 dependents to the U.S. Pacific territory.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Japan's Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone signed an agreement in February on the relocation project, part of a wider 2006 bilateral accord on transforming US force deployments in Japan.
The plan is expected to be voted down in the opposition-controlled upper house but is assured final approval under a constitutional provision that gives the lower chamber precedence on international accords.
The Democratic Party of Japan and other opposition parties have rejected the plan, citing doubts about its cost breakdown and related plans to move a U.S. Marine airfield from a city to a scenic Okinawa shore.
Okinawa - where a bloody battle was fought in the closing days of World War II - has since the war been the reluctant host of more than half of the 40,000 U.S. troops based in Japan.
Many Okinawans are opposed to the related plan to move the Marine airfield to the shore, citing environmental and other concerns.
But the Clinton-Nakasone accord tied this plan to the pullout to Guam aimed at reducing the burden of the U.S. military presence in Okinawa.
Okinawan islanders have long complained of noise from military operations and a series of crimes committed by U.S. servicemen.
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ReplyDeleteJapanese Diet close to approving $2.8 billion for Marines move to Guam
ReplyDeletePacific Daily News • news@guampdn.com • April 15, 2009
The Japanese House of Representatives this week approved a $2.8 billion agreement to move 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam within five years.
The accord, approved by a majority vote in the lower house, now heads to the Japanese House of Councillors. Although it is expected to be voted against there, under the Japanese Constitution the lower house prevails when the two houses cannot agree, reports The Mainichi Daily News, the English-language site of one of Japan's largest newspapers.
In February, United States and Japan leaders signed a historic agreement in which Japan agreed to give Washington $2.8 billion for the transfer costs.