Guam gov. negative on having more Marines from Okinawa than agreed

Guam gov. negative on having more Marines from Okinawa than agreed

Feb 11 07:08 AM US/Eastern

GUAM, Feb. 11 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Governor of Guam Felix Camacho on Thursday told visiting Japanese lawmakers that he is against accepting more than the agreed number of U.S. Marines from Okinawa to the Pacific island.

The lawmakers from Japan's ruling coalition government were on a fact- finding visit to Guam as part of their efforts to explore possible alternatives for the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa.

Under a 2006 Japan-U.S. agreement on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, about 8,000 Marines are to be transferred to Guam from Okinawa.

The Japanese government sent the lawmakers, who are members of a government panel on the Futemma relocation issue, to the island to see U.S. military bases there.

The Social Democratic Party, one of the two junior partners in the Democratic Party of Japan-led government, has been looking at Guam as a possible relocation site.

Northern Mariana Islands Governor Benigno Fitial was present at the meeting between Camacho and the Japanese lawmakers, according to Japanese officials. Fitial has expressed a positive view about accepting the Futemma Air Station functions to the islands.