The mayor of a city on Japan's southern island of Okinawa pressed yesterday for changes to a plan to relocate a US Marine base, a key component of a deal on reorganising US forces in Japan, but there were few signs of progress that would soothe local opposition.

The plan to move Futenma Marine Corps air base from a crowded urban part of Okinawa to an area straddling another base and the coast of Nago City was contained in an October US-Japan deal on relocating the more than 50,000 US troops in Japan.

US and Japanese officials will meet in Tokyo from today to try to finalise by the end of March ways to implement the broader plan, which is part of Washington's efforts to transform its forces globally into a more flexible force.

But opposition is strong in Nago, site of the Futenma relocation, and in other communities worried about noise, accidents and crime associated with the US bases.

"About 70 to 80 per cent of Nago voters are against the government plan," said Yasuhiro Miyagi, a Nago City assemblyman.

"If they try to force it through, there will be confusion," he added.

Nago Mayor Yoshikazu Shimabukuro said after meeting defence officials in Tokyo that the city and the central government had agreed to keep talking in hopes of resolving the standoff by the end of the month, according to a Defence Agency spokeswoman.

Minor changes possible

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Defence Minister Fukushiro Nukaga agreed on Tuesday that minor changes could be made to the plan to relocate Futenma's heliport from central Okinawa to Nago, farther north.

But Nukaga and other central government officials stressed that the original plan remained the basis for discussions.

Resentment of the US military runs deep in Okinawa, one of Japan's poorest areas and the reluctant host to almost half the US forces in the country, including nearly 12,000 Marines.

Okinawa Governor Keiichi Inamine has also refused so far to lend his support the proposed Futenma relocation plan.

The 1995 rape of a schoolgirl by three US servicemen sparked massive demonstrations in Okinawa and triggered calls for a reduction in the presence of US forces on the island.

The overall realignment package also calls for moving about 8,000 US Marines out of Okinawa, mostly to the US territory of Guam, and the United States has asked Japan to pay 75 per cent of the US$10 billion cost.

But finalising the deal on Futenma, which has been a festering problem for the alliance ever since a 1996 agreement on moving it was first reached, is a prerequisite for shifting the Marines to Guam, US officials have said.

Opposition to proposed changes in the US military presence has grown elsewhere as well.

On March 12, in a rare but non-binding referendum, residents of the western Japanese city of Iwakuni voted overwhelmingly against a plan to expand a nearby US Marine base, another facet of the realignment plan.

Source: China Daily