Lower house clears pact on Marines' Guam transfer from Okinawa

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TOKYO, April 14 Kyodo -
The House of Representatives approved an accord Tuesday that commits Japan and
the United States to following through on the planned transfer of U.S. Marines
from Okinawa to Guam by 2014.
The accord, which will now be sent to the opposition-controlled House of
Councillors, should clear the Diet by the middle of next month due to the lower
house's constitutional superiority to the upper house.
The Constitution allows treaties and their equivalents to be endorsed even if
the upper house votes them down or they do not come to a vote within 30 days of
their passage through the lower house.
Backed by the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc, the bilateral
agreement, signed by Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone and U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in February, mustered a majority in the
lower house.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan and other opposition parties
opposed the measure, citing its vague cost breakdown and its ties to the
controversial project of relocating a Marine airfield within Okinawa.
The accord gives a legal basis to the 2006 Japan-U.S. agreement on the
realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, commonly referred to as the ''road map,''
which Tokyo and Washington say is meant to reduce burdens on communities near
U.S. bases.
It stipulates that 8,000 servicemen and women in the 3rd Marine Expeditionary
Force and their 9,000 dependents will be moved to Guam by 2014, while legally
obligating Tokyo to spend up to $2.8 billion on infrastructure projects on the
Pacific island.
The accord also ties the project in with the relocation of facilities at the
Marines' Air Station Futemma in Ginowan to the shores of Nago on Japan's
southernmost island, saying that the Guam transfer depends on progress made in
the latter's relocation.
The planned move of the 8,000 Marines should mean the deduction of the current
ceiling of 18,000 to 10,000, government officials said during Diet
deliberations on the legislation.
According to the Okinawa prefectural government, the number of Marines
stationed on the island totals roughly 13,000, far below the ceiling. So there
is speculation that only about 3,000 Marines may be transferred to Guam even if
the plan is put into practice.
Okinawa hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan.
==Kyodo