Japan cabinet approves United States forces plan

Tokyo, May 30: Japan today approved a final plan to tighten security ties with the United States and reorganise U.S. troops in the country, part of Washington's strategy to make its forces more flexible in the face of modern threats.

Approval of the plan paves the way for streamlining the approximately 50,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan and giving Tokyo a bigger role in the key alliance, the pillar of its post-war diplomacy.

The plan faced numerous hurdles, including friction over agreeing how to fund the relocation of 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam that delayed agreement between the two nations for nearly a month beyond a March 31 deadline.

''This plan aims at reducing the burden on the local people and is quite meaningful in the sense of strengthening the U.S.-Japan alliance in the current security climate,'' chief cabinet secretary Shinzo Abe told a news conference.

The government still has to court residents of Okinawa, who remain opposed to moving the Marines' Futenma airbase within the southern island due to worries about noise, crime and the environment.

''Now we have to work together on this realistic plan,'' Defence Minister Fukushiro Nukaga told reporters.

''We will keep discussing things with local residents in order to bring the situation to a satisfactory conclusion.''

FURTHER DISCUSSIONS

Okinawa governor Keiichi Inamine signed a document earlier this month in which he and the government agreed to ''deal with'' relocating Futenma, but later said he had not fully signed off on the plan and that further discussions were needed.

The troop realignment meshes with Japan's efforts to move beyond the constraints of its postwar pacifist constitution and raise its global security profile.

Tokyo's shifting security stance is fed by concerns over North Korea and China's growing influence as well as its desires to take on a more ''normal'' role as a nation whose military can operate abroad and in conjunction with its allies.

Key to the plan is reducing the burden on Okinawa, which is home to nearly half the U.S. military in Japan and has long resented what it sees as an unfair burden under the bilateral alliance.

Local anger flared in 1995 after a schoolgirl was raped by three U.S. servicemen and revives periodically whenever U.S. military personnel are involved in crimes.

Military planners say troops on Okinawa are essential due to its proximity to China and North Korea but the plan did agree to pare the number of Marines by 8,000 through a shift to Guam.

Japan ultimately agreed to pay 59 percent of the total cost of this move or roughly .09 billion, down from the 75 percent requested by Washington.

Tokyo will also have to pay an additional 1.1 trillion yen (9.8 billion dollar) over the eight to ten years, down from government estimates of 2 trillion yen, government sources were quoted by Kyodo news agency as saying.

Abe said financing details were still being worked out but will not include an extra budget at this point.

REUTERS