U.S., Japan fail to reach further deal on troop realignment

The United States and Japan concluded two days of talks Thursday in Wshington without reaching any further agreement on realigning 50,000 U.S. troops in Japan and dividing the cost of moving 7,000 U.S. Marines to Guam.

Pentagon spokesman Brian Maka told reporters that after the two- day meeting at Pentagon, negotiators from both sides failed to reach a deal and have not set a date to continue negotiations.

He did not indicate whether any progress was made during the talks.

The meeting was aimed to hammer out the details after both sides reached a broad agreement on the realignment plan last October.

A key issue is the cost of redeploying U.S. Marine troops from Okinawa to Guam.

The U.S. side said Japan should pay 75 percent of the total cost of 10 billion U.S. dollars over seven years, but Japan only agrees to pay 3 billion dollars.

Other key issues include relocating an airbase in Futenma, Okinawa.

U.S. and Japanese officials have agreed to close the base and replace it with a new base near a rural city in Okinawa.

But the plan faces strong opposition from locals worried about noise, crime and the environment, and resentful of Okinawa's heavy burden under the U.S.-Japan security alliance.

Japan and the United States have already missed a March 31 deadline to wrap up the realignment package, which includes steps to more closely integrate their forces and is part of Washington's effort to transform its military globally to meet modern threats.

U.S. troops have been stationed in Japan since the end of World War II in 1945 and the United States now plans to adjust the deployment of some 50,000 troops based in that country, as part of a worldwide realignment of U.S. forces.

Source: Xinhua