Japan and the United States agreed on a cost sharing plan
regarding the relocation of 8,000 US Marines from Okinawa to Guam,
Kyodo News reported on Monday.
Japan will shoulder 59 percent of the total cost of US$10.27
billion, or US$6.09 billion, Japanese Defense Agency Director
General Fukushiro Nukaga said in Washington after meeting with his
US counterpart Donald Rumsfeld.
The agreement came after several fruitless rounds of talks on
the issue. Washington had requested Tokyo to pay 75 percent, or
US$7.5 billion, though Tokyo had been unwilling to pay that
much.
The two have nailed down the Marines relocation issue this time,
Nukaga said. Tokyo will supply US$2.8 billion in grants, US$1.5
billion in investments and US$1.79 billion in loans.
Previous disagreements on the cost issue and others have kept
the two nations from meeting the March 31 deadline to settle the
whole implementation plan, as decided in October 2005.
Tokyo and Washington are expected to get prepared for a top
security meeting of defense and foreign ministers early next month
to finalize the overall implementation plan.
American troops have been stationed in Japan since the end of
World War II in 1945. Currently, there are about 50,000 US troops
located there. Local residents have long complained about crime,
noise and crowding associated with the US military presence.
(Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2006)
