Japan to pay part of costs of construction of U.S. Marine Corps facilities on Guam

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Japan to pay part of costs of construction of U.S. Marine Corps facilities on Guam

The Japanese government has changed its explanation regarding Japan's cooperation with the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps personnel from Okinawa to Guam. It now says Japan will share the costs for the construction of operational facilities for the USMC units on Guam, in addition to the infrastructure-related costs.

At the House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on February 6, Takamizawa Nobushige, chief of the Defense Ministry's Operational Policy Bureau, made the remark in reply to Japanese Communist Party representative Akamine Seiken.

Akamine criticized the government for using tax money to pay part of the costs for a foreign country's military facility construction.

The government has so far explained that Japan's payment for the USMC relocation will be limited to the construction of USMC headquarters, housing, and school buildings in Guam that no Japanese tax money will be used to construct operational facilities.

Takamizawa stated that now that the co-use of the U.S. Andersen Air Force Base in northern Guam by U.S. air force operational units and USMC units is an integral part of the USMC's relocation plan, Japan is called upon to cooperate in the construction of those facilities. It also includes the project to promote infrastructural facilities in Apra Harbor in western Guam, he added.

Referring to the fact that U.S. high-speed craft and assault landing ships are moored at Apra, Akamine criticized the government for agreeing to share a part of the cost of the U.S. government's plan to remake Guam as part of a chain of military hubs linked with Hawaii and Okinawa.

"It cannot be justified, amid the unprecedented downturn in the economy and employment, for the government to throw away huge amounts of tax money that will benefit another nation attempting to reinforce its own military facilities," stressed the JCP lawmaker.

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The Japanese and U.S. governments on February 6 agreed to hold talks between Foreign Minister Nakasone Hirofumi and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on February 17, in which both will sign an agreement concerning the 'relocation' of USMC units from Okinawa to Guam.

The May 2006 Japan-U.S. Roadmap for Realignment Implementation stated that Japan will provide $6.09 billion (in U.S. Fiscal Year 2008 dollars), including $2.8 billion in direct cash contributions, to develop facilities and infrastructure on Guam to enable the III MEF relocation. The government's draft budget for FY2009 included initial budgets for this purpose.

Both governments regard the controversial U.S. military realignment in Japan as the core of a further buildup of the bilateral alliance.

The signing of the agreement to be made when Clinton stops in Japan on her initial foreign tour will be fully used for the two governments to boost the pending construction of a USMC air base at an offshore of Nago City in Okinawa, as part of a package deal to 'relocate' MC units from Okinawa to Guam.

- Akahata, February 7, 2009