Tokyo and Washington said Wednesday they have agreed to revise a 2006 bilateral accord aimed at transferring U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam, effectively no longer making the redeployment contingent upon construction of a replacement airfield by 2014.
The two sides said they have already started formal negotiations on moving some of the marines to Guam before the planned relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa. The plan, based on a 2006 bilateral accord, called for moving 8,000 marines and their dependents to Guam from the Futenma base upon the 2014 completion of the replacement airfield on the Henoko coast of Nago farther north on Okinawa Island.
Intense local opposition has meant virtually no progress has been made on the relocation base, and both nations have had to reflect this in their budgets.