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    June 21, 2011

US-Japan Basing Plan in Doubt Amid High-Level Talks

   VOA News
   US military airplanes and helicopters sit on the airstrip at Futenma
   Marine Corps Air Station surrounded by houses in Ginowan, Okinawa,
   Japan (FILE).
   Photo: AP
   In this Dec. 17, 2009 photo, military airplanes and helicopters sit on
   the airstrip at Futenma Marine Corps Air Station surrounded by houses
   in Ginowan, Okinawa, Japan.

   A hard-won agreement to move thousands of U.S. Marines to a new base in
   Okinawa is once again in doubt as top U.S. and Japanese officials sit
   down for talks in Washington Tuesday.
   The 2006 agreement called for a new base to be completed in a less
   congested part of Okinawa by 2014 and for 8,000 Marines to be moved
   with their families to the U.S. island of Guam.
   But officials on both sides now say that timetable is unrealistic and a
   postponement will be announced after Tuesday's meeting. Secretary of
   State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates will host
   Japanese counterparts Takeaki Matsumoto and Toshimi Kitazawa at the
   talks.
   The delay is likely to cause fresh frustration in Okinawa, where many
   residents would like to see the Marines leave altogether. British and
   Irish newspaper reporter David McNeill, a regular visitor to Okinawa,
   tells VOA that 75 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan are
   concentrated in the small, heavily populated island.
   Under the 2006 agreement, Japan is to pay about $6 billion of the cost
   of the move, with the United States to pay the remainder. But work was
   delayed by the election of a new Japanese government that initially
   objected to the project, leading to the resignation of former Prime
   Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
   The plan was further delayed by Japan's March 11 earthquake and
   tsunami, which will require a massive rebuilding effort.
   On the American side, three influential senators are leading resistance
   to the plan in Congress, where many consider the scheme too costly at a
   time of high budget deficits.
   At their talks Tuesday, the officials are also expected to discuss
   North Korea's nuclear program and other issues.

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