Japan, U.S. to finalize troops realignment by early May

Japan and the United States plan to hold ministerial talks in early May to finalize a broad set of accords to realign the U.S. military presence in Japan, local media reported on Wednesday.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso is set to meet U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a visit to Washington starting April 30, and Japanese Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga and U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are likely to take part, realizing the "two-plus-two" security meeting, the leading English newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported.

The two countries have missed a self-imposed deadline of March 31 to finalize the realignment plans, which were baffled mainly by Okinawa Prefecture's opposition over constructing a new airfield for U.S. troops relocation and Japan's disagreement of shouldering much of the cost aroused by transferring U.S. Marines to Guam.

The Japanese government finally won the consent on April 7 from Mayor of Nago, where the new airfield will be built to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station from Ginowan, but has yet to win accept from the Okinawa Governor, who holds the authority to approve landfills for the airfield construction, Kyodo News quoted analysts as saying.

Source: Xinhua