No change seen in U.S. forces realignment despite Marine indication

TOKYO, June 8 Kyodo -
Japan does not see any need to alter the planned realignment of U.S. forces in
Japan, the modification of which was suggested last week by the U.S. Marine
Corps chief, Vice Defense Minister Kohei Masuda said Monday.
''The realignment of U.S. forces in Japan is a plan to be steadily implemented
according to the road map agreed upon between Japan and the United States in
2006,'' the ministry's top bureaucrat told a news conference.
''This point has recently been confirmed between Prime Minister (Taro) Aso and
the president,'' he said, referring to the understanding to that effect between
Aso and U.S. President Barack Obama in February.
Regarding the remarks, made by U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway,
Masuda said, ''The contents of Commandant Conway's remarks and where they are
positioned inside the U.S. government are unclear.''
Meanwhile, Kevin Maher, the U.S. consul general in Japan's Okinawa Prefecture,
denied the possibility of reviewing the road map, saying that the United States
will implement the realignment as agreed.
Maher, who is to leave Okinawa next month to head the U.S. State Department's
Office of Japanese Affairs, told a meeting in Naha, Okinawa, that there has
been no suggestion made to renegotiate the accord with Japan.
On Thursday, in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Conway
indicated a need to modify the plan to transfer U.S. Marines from Okinawa to
Guam by 2014.
''We have some modifications we think are worthy of consideration,'' he said,
citing concerns about the concomitant relocation of facilities at the Marines'
Futemma Air Station in the same prefecture.
''This Futemma replacement facility has to be indeed a fully capable
replacement for what we're giving up on Okinawa,'' the general said, adding,
''We are concerned about training opportunities on Guam, in the nearby islands
as well as the rest of the Asia-Pacific basin.''
''So there are some things like that that we certainly want to see considered
and negotiated as need be with the Japanese before we slap the table,'' Conway
said.
The plan to move 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam is part of an agreement
struck between the United States and Japan in May 2006 to reduce the burden on
local residents of hosting the U.S. military in their communities.
Relocating the Marines to Guam is closely tied to another key element of the
agreement -- transferring the U.S. Marine Corps Futemma Air Station's heliport
functions from downtown Ginowan to Nago, both in Okinawa.
==Kyodo