U.S. asks Japan to pay 75% cost to move marines to Guam: report

The United States has asked Japan to shoulder 75 percent of the cost for relocating U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam, Kyodo news reported here on Wednesday, quoting a U.S. Defense Department official in Washington.

The total cost is estimated to be 10 billion U.S. dollars and Japan is asked to pay 7.5 billion dollars through direct grants and loans. The cost, mentioned in recent talks between the two countries in the United States, is a "preliminary" figure.

The United States offered to move 8,000 marines in Okinawa to Guam instead of an earlier agreed plan to move 6,000 to Guam and 1, 000 elsewhere in Japan, the U.S. officials said to Japanese reporters on Tuesday in Washington.

Reporting on the same issue, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said Wednesday that the estimated cost included the cost of command facilities as well as housing and other infrastructure projects needed by the marines and their families, according to U.S. officials.

The U.S. military realignment plans face strong local opposition in related areas of Japan. Residents have long complained about crime, noise and crowding associated with the U.S. military presence.

Recently, people in Okinawa and those in Kanoya, southern prefecture of Kagoshima protested against the plans which may affect their life. In a referendum held last Sunday in Iwakuni, central Yamaguchi prefecture, an overwhelming 89 percent of local residents voted "no" to a plan which aims to relocate 57 carrier- based warplanes to the U.S. Marine Corps' base in the city.

Source: Xinhua