A bilateral document to be released this month on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan will include contentious repair work at the Futenma base in Okinawa but won't say how much Tokyo will have to cover, according to an outline obtained recently.
But whereas the U.S. proposed the document state a sum of ¥20 billion for the repairs, slated to be carried out over eight years from fiscal 2012, Tokyo refused to include any concrete figures at such an early stage, fearing this might suggest the base will remain indefinitely at its current location in a crowded residential area in Ginowan, sources close to bilateral ties said.
The specifics are expected to be hammered out during a senior working-level meeting between U.S. and Japanese foreign and defense officials later Thursday, the sources said.
The document, due out April 25, also contains no reference to the increased costs Tokyo will have to shoulder over the relocation of U.S. Marines from Okinawa Prefecture to Guam, despite intense pressure from Washington to include details.
It will also say that an existing bilateral plan to move U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to the Henoko coastal district in Nago remains unchanged, they said.
The two sides are also expected to set up a new consultative body to draft plans over the return by autumn of five facilities and areas used by U.S. forces on Okinawa Island to Japan, including a plot of land at Camp Zukeran the document will specifically refer to.
But since Washington is continuing to argue that the return of the facilities is contingent on moving the Futenma air station within Okinawa, a controversial move that local opposition has stalled for years, the land's return is considered unlikely in the near future.
