US Marines begin partial transfer from Okinawa to Guam

TOKYO — The partial transfer of U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam began Saturday, 12 years after Japan and the United States agreed to realign themselves to reduce the heavy burden of the U.S. troop presence on the southern Japanese island, officials said.

The relocation began with the movement of 100 members of the III Marine Expeditionary Force stationed on Okinawa to the Pacific island for initial logistical work, the U.S. Marine Corps and Japan’s Defense Ministry said in a joint statement.

Under the plan agreed between Tokyo and Washington in April 2012, about 9,000 of the 19,000 Marines currently stationed on Okinawa are to be moved out of Okinawa, including about 4,000 to Guam in stages. Details, including the scale and timing of the upcoming transfer, were not immediately disclosed.

The Marine Corps is committed to defending Japan and meeting operational requirements to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific, and it will maintain its presence in the region “through a combination of stationing and rotating Marines in Japan, in Guam and Hawaii,” a joint statement said.

Japan has paid up to $2.8 billion to build infrastructure at U.S. bases in Guam, and the U.S. government will finance the rest of the costs. The two governments will continue to cooperate in the development of Camp Blaz, which will serve as the primary facility for Marines stationed on Guam.

The Marines and the Japan Self-Defense Forces will conduct joint training in Guam, the statement said.

Okinawa, which was under postwar U.S. occupation until 1972, is still home to the majority of the more than 50,000 U.S. troops based in Japan under a bilateral security agreement, while 70 percent of U.S. military installations are in Okinawa, which represents only 0.6%. of Japanese land.

Many Okinawans have long complained about the heavy U.S. military presence on the island and say Okinawa faces noise, pollution, plane crashes and crime linked to U.S. troops.

The relocation will likely be welcomed by local residents, but the extent of improvement they will experience is uncertain due to the rapid buildup of the Japanese military on the Okinawa islands to deter Chinese threats.

The start of the Marine relocation comes at a time of growing anti-American military sentiment following a series of sexual assault cases involving U.S. service members.

A senior Air Force official at Kadena Air Base was convicted on Thursday of the kidnapping and sexual assault of a teenage girl last year, a case that sparked the outrage on the island. The Naha District Court sentenced him to five years in prison.