Japan may pay part of US troop relocation
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-06 11:41

The Japanese government is considering paying part of the costs of relocating U.S. military personnel currently stationed on the southern island of Okinawa to Guam through enactment of a special law, media reported on Sunday.

The unusual move would be part of a major reorganization of the deployment of U.S. forces throughout Japan formally agreed to last weekend as one part of Washington's global plans to make its military more flexible.

Under the plan, 6,000 Marines will be shifted from Okinawa, long the reluctant host to roughly half the nearly 50,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan, to the Pacific Ocean territory of Guam and another 1,000 to other locations within Japan.

Japan is now considering paying part of the costs of building new facilities on Guam for the Marines, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun and other media said, adding that the United States had estimated that a previous plan to relocate only 4,000 Marines to Guam would cost about $3 billion.

The current plan could end up costing Japan several hundred billion yen, Kyodo news agency said.

A new law would be needed because existing agreements covering the presence of the U.S. military in Japan do not apply overseas, the reports said, adding that some in the Japanese government question whether such support was even legal.

Foreign and defense ministry officials were not available for comment, but Kyodo quoted an unnamed Japanese official as saying the move would be "extremely rare."

"Facilities for a new headquarters and residences will be necessary in Guam. The U.S. budget for such construction will be limited, so we will do it even if there are demerits, all for the sake of reducing the burden on Okinawa," the official was quoted as saying.