US agrees to reduce number of Marines on Okinawa base

WASHINGTON—THE United States and Japan have reached agreement on a long-simmering dispute that calls for the US military to reduce the number of Marines in Okinawa by 9,000 and begin returning land to the government there, senior officials announced on Thursday.

The deal was presented by senior US officials as a victory for both sides: It offers the prospect of removing a chronic source of Japanese resentment and, in keeping with the Obama administration’s new focus on Asia, allows the Defense Department to free up ground forces for rotating deployments elsewhere across the Pacific region, the officials said.

No timetable was announced for the redeployment, which would leave about 10,000 Marines based on Okinawa. About 5,000 of the Marines leaving the island are to be sent to Guam, a US territory in the western Pacific Ocean, and a smaller number to Hawaii.

But with efforts to increase troop rotations and Navy ship visits throughout the region— including a new plan for Marines to rotate through a base in Australia—the overall US presence in the Asia-pacific region will not decrease and may grow in various regions at different times, officials said.

The agreement on removing the Marines was made possible by separating those negotiations from another thorny issue. The Japanese have demanded that the US move the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from its current site—an urban part of Okinawa—to a less-populated spot in the north, at Camp Schwab.

Both sides remain committed to that plan, US officials said, but no details were given of when it might happen.

One hope of the United States is that the transfer announced on Thursday will increase acceptance for moving the Futenma base. Okinawa would remain host to Kadena Air Base, the largest US airfield in the region.

The movement to transfer forces was set off in 1996 by the gang rape of a local girl by Marines.

The agreement is “a resounding victory for our bilateral alliance,” a senior state department official said. The official discussed the deal on the condition of anonymity.

The official acknowledged the importance for the US “to reduce the impact” of its military presence on Okinawa as part of Washington’s goal to retain Japanese support for the alliance with the United States.

Japan has pledged about $3.1 billion to the effort. The cost of moving the Marines when the Futenma air station was part of the plan was estimated at $10.3 billion.

Pentagon officials said the ability to rotate forces along a wider belt in the western Pacific—and not just focus troops in Okinawa—would give the military greater agility in countering potential Chinese expansion while not diminishing deterrence on the Korean Peninsula.