Japan Press Weekly

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2011 April 27 - May 10 [OKINAWA]

Withdraw deceitful Japan-US pact on Marines ‘transfer’ to Guam

Editorial (excerpts)


Secret official telegrams of the U.S. government have revealed that the 2006 Japan-U.S. Agreement to “transfer” the U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam as a trade-off for building a new U.S. base in Okinawa was deceitful as the number of personnel to be relocated is exaggerated and Japan’s share of the cost of relocation is underestimated. The information has come from the whistleblowing WikiLeaks website.

A secret cable sent from the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo to the U.S. Secretary of State dated December 12, 2008 is of particular concern.

The Japan-U.S. agreement states that of the 18,000 U.S. Marine Corps personnel stationed in Okinawa, about 8,000 servicemen and 9,000 family members shall be transferred to Guam. However, the secret telegram has exposed that the figures were padded.

The secret telegram states: “both the 8,000 and the 9,000 numbers were deliberately maximized to optimize political value in Japan, but the two sides knew that these numbers differed significantly from actual Marines and dependents assigned to units in Okinawa.”

The Japanese Communist Party Dietmembers Group has been arguing in the Diet that the number to be transferred would be around 3,000, as the U.S. Marines in Okinawa at the time totaled 13,000. The U.S. secret telegram has verified the JCP estimate.

In the Japan-U.S. agreement, Japan is expected to pay 6.1 billion dollars, or 59% of the total cost of 10.2 billion dollars (830 billion yen) for building a base in Guam. The cost of constructing a military road in Guam at one billion dollars is included in the U.S. share of burdens (4.1 billion dollars) “as a way to increase the overall cost estimate and thereby reduce the share of total costs borne by Japan,” but the confidential cable reads, “the United States would not consider the road an absolute prerequisite.” Without the cost for military road construction, Japan’s share is 66%, nearly the initial U.S. request for 70%.

Constructing a base in Guam is for the U.S. forces to strengthen their preparedness for military intervention in conflicts throughout the world. Japan has no obligation to cooperate with building a base in Guam under the pretext of decreasing the base burdens on Okinawans. The need for the government is to immediately rescind the Japan-U.S. agreement.