TOKYO — The partial transfer of US Marines from Okinawa The trip to Guam began Saturday, 12 years after Japan and the United States agreed to their redeployment to reduce the heavy burden of the U.S. troop presence on the southern Japanese island, officials said.
The move began when 100 members of the III Marine Expeditionary Force based on Okinawa moved to the Pacific island for initial logistics work, the U.S. Marine Corps and Japan’s Ministry of Defense said in a joint statement.
Under the plan agreed between Tokyo and Washington in April 2012, about 9,000 of the 19,000 Marines currently stationed on Okinawa will be moved out of Okinawa, including about 4,000 of those who will be transferred to Guam in phases. Details, including the size and timing of the next transfer, were not immediately released.
The Marine Corps is committed to the defense of Japan and meeting operational requirements to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific, and it will maintain its presence in the region ‘through a combination of stationing and rotating Marines in Japan, Guam and Hawaii’. joint statement said.
Japan has paid up to $2.8 billion to build infrastructure at U.S. bases on Guam, and the U.S. government will finance the remaining costs. The two governments will continue to work together on the development of Camp Blaz, which will serve as the main installation for Marines stationed in Guam.
The Marines and Japanese Self-Defense Forces will conduct joint training in Guam, the statement said.
Okinawa, which was occupied by the US until 1972, is still home to a majority of the more than 50,000 US troops stationed in Japan under a bilateral security treaty, while 70% of US military facilities are on Okinawa, which is only accounts for 0.6%. of Japanese country.
Lots of Okinawans I’ve been complaining for a long time about the heavy U.S. military presence on the island, saying Okinawa experiences noise, pollution, plane crashes and crime linked to U.S. forces.
The move will likely be welcomed by local residents, but how much improvement they will feel is uncertain due to Japan’s rapid military build-up in the Okinawa Islands as a deterrent to threats from China.
The start of the Marines’ move comes at a time of rising anti-American military sentiment a series of sexual abuse cases involving US military personnel.
On Thursday, a senior air force member from Kadena Air Base was convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a teenage girl last year, a case that sparked outrage on the island. The Naha court sentenced him to five years in prison.