Japan signs pact to spend $2.8 bil. on U.S. Marines Guam transfer+

TOKYO, Feb. 17 Kyodo -
Japan signed a pact with the United States on Tuesday to spend up to $2.8
billion on the relocation of U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam, reconfirming
the two countries' readiness to honor a 2006 accord on the realignment of U.S.
forces in Japan.

The latest bilateral agreement will in turn commit the United States to using
Japanese taxpayers' money solely for ''projects to develop facilities and
infrastructure on Guam,'' in an apparent gesture to placate Japanese detractors
of the large fiscal spending plan.
''The Guam agreement we have just signed signifies the two countries' strong
commitment to the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan,'' Japanese Foreign
Minister Hirofumi Nakasone told a joint news conference after he and U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed the pact in Tokyo.
For her part, Clinton touted the accord as ''one more example of the strong and
vibrant alliance that we enjoy,'' saying that ''we intend to move forward to
implement it (the accord).''
Japan plans to submit the accord to the Diet currently in session to obtain
parliamentary endorsement. It has earmarked the initial 34.6 billion yen for
the relocation projects in the fiscal 2009 budget.
In a meeting after the signing ceremony on Tuesday, Japanese Defense Minister
Yasukazu Hamada and Clinton also reaffirmed the importance of proceeding as
agreed with the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan.
The six-page agreement gives legally binding force to the 2006 accord, commonly
known as the road map, which a Japanese Foreign Ministry official says was just
''a political document both countries expressed as their policy intentions.''
The pact reaffirms a plan under which Japan will provide $6.09 billion of the
estimated $10.27 billion needed for the relocation of Marines to the U.S.
territory in the Pacific to reduce the burden on mostly local Okinawa
residents.
As previously agreed, Tokyo will give Washington up to $2.8 billion in cash for
building and infrastructure projects on Guam to relocate about 8,000 3rd Marine
Expeditionary Force personnel and their roughly 9,000 family members from
Okinawa by 2014.
However, such fiscal spending must be reciprocated by U.S. funding on related
projects for the expenditure to be realized, according to the new agreement.
By contrast, the accord commits Washington to take relocation measures only if
Japan makes ''tangible progress'' toward the relocation of a U.S. Marine Corps
base within Okinawa.
The relocation of the Marines' Futemma Air Station in Ginowan to the shores of
Camp Schwab in Nago is another key item in the road map that has become the
thorniest issue in the ongoing realignment process.
Although the relocation is supposed to be completed by the end of 2014, it has
been delayed due to a row between Japan's central government and local
municipalities over the exact location of new runways to be built around the
U.S. camp.
Japan hopes to have the new accord endorsed by its Diet during the current
session, but opposition parties, including the main opposition Democratic Party
of Japan, have been cautious about embracing it, due partly to the costs of the
Guam relocation.
In the ministerial talks on Tuesday, Defense Minister Hamada told Clinton that
with the signing of the Guam accord, he believes a new chapter has begun for
the realignment, according to a Defense Ministry official.
''In my opinion, it's a good occasion to review the overall meaning of the
Japan-U.S. alliance from a larger perspective now that we have the Aso and
Obama administrations, completely new administrations,'' he was quoted as
saying.
Okinawa, Japan's southernmost island prefecture, hosts the bulk of U.S. forces
stationed in the country.
==Kyodo