The agreement Japan and the United States signed Tuesday on relocating U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam notes that the move is dependent on "tangible progress" toward completing a replacement facility for Air Station Futenma in Ginowan and on Japanese money to fund the development of facilities and infrastructure needed on Guam.
But with no signs that work is going to start on the offshore replacement facility in northern Okinawa and concerns in Guam rising about a host of issues ranging from road safety to environmental impact and foreign workers, doubts about meeting the 2014 relocation deadline remain strong.
The agreement signed by Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reaffirms the 2006 realignment agreement on U.S. bases, known as the road map, and calls on Japan to provide a little more than $6 billion to help 8,000 marines and several thousand dependents move from Okinawa to Guam.