Japan willing to pay no more than half of U.S. marine transfer cost: FM

Japan is only willing to shoulder up to 50 percent of the cost to transfer U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Wednesday.

"I would like to see it cut down to at least below 50 (percent), " Aso was quoted as saying at a meeting of a House of Representatives panel by the Kyodo News.

The United States has proposed that Japan pay 75 percent of the 10-billion-U.S.-dollars estimated to cover the cost of relocating 7,000 U.S. marine from Okinawa to Guam.

"There's no way of yielding to as much as 50 (percent) but I don't know where we will end up after talks, " Aso said.

Japan and the United States are expected to hold senior working- level talks next week in Washington in a bid to finalize a package to realign U.S. forces in Japan. Therefore, it would be impossible for the two countries to nail down the plans by the end of this month, as outlined in an interim report released in October 2005.

The plans have met strong oppositions from local residents of related areas. People have long complained about crime, noise and crowding associated with the U.S. military presence.

American troops have been stationed in Japan since the end of World War II in 1945. Currently, there are about 50,000 U.S troops located there.

Source: Xinhua