By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-12-19 00:01:34 | Updated at 2024-12-19 02:55:46
2 hours ago
Okinawa’s governor has demanded a clear deadline for relocating 9,000 US Marines from the southern Japanese prefecture to Guam, but there are doubts over whether he will receive such a timeline, with one analyst calling the request “unreasonable” given the transfer’s logistical complexity.
Governor Denny Tamaki voiced his request during a meeting with Defence Minister Gen Nakatani in the Okinawan capital of Naha on Sunday. The minister paid a courtesy call on the governor to confirm that the first detachment of 100 US Marines had begun their transfer.
Nakatani said the national government plans to alleviate the strain on the prefecture from hosting most US military facilities in Japan.
He did not, however, commit to providing Okinawa with a firm timetable for the relocation of American troops as part of a 2006 agreement, that would transfer 9,000 of the 19,000 US Marines stationed there to Guam.
“It is pretty unreasonable for the governor to request a timetable like that because the logistics involved in moving that many troops and all their equipment is extremely challenging,” said Ryo Hinata-Yamaguchi, associate professor in Tokyo International University’s Institute for International Strategy.
“This is a hugely complicated thing to do, especially at a time of worsening security challenges in the region,” he told This Week in Asia.
