US, Japan delay Okinawa base plan
The United States and Japan acknowledged Tuesday that they would miss a 2014 deadline for a controversial shift of a US base in Okinawa, but stood firmly behind the plan in the face of opposition. In a joint statement after top-level talks, the Pacific allies said that the relocation "will not meet the previous targeted date of 2014" but renewed their commitment to complete the project "at the earliest possible date." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, meeting with their Japanese counterparts, also reconfirmed plans to move 8,000 Marines and some 9,000 dependents from Okinawa to the US territory of Guam. Under the 2006 plan between the two governments, the United States planned to shut the flashpoint Futenma base in Okinawa which has long been a source of grievance as it lies in a crowded urban area. But a number of activists on Okinawa demanded that the base be removed entirely from the island, the often reluctant host to half of the 47,000 US troops based in Japan under a post-World War II treaty. Three US senators recently moved to force the Pentagon to consider a new option, saying that the current plan is too costly and politically unrealistic as Japan grapples with the aftermath of its massive earthquake.
