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Japan, U.S. finalize troop plan
Capping more than three years of grueling negotiations, Japanese and U.S. officials signed a set of agreements May 1 in Washington to realign the U.S. military forces in Japan by 2014 and take the security alliance to a new level.
The agreements reached by Foreign Minister Taro Aso, Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld put the finishing touches on such thorny issues as the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in central Okinawa and the transfer of some 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam.
The total financial burden for Japan is estimated at ¥2 trillion to ¥3 trillion, a figure that has sparked domestic debate on how the money can be squeezed out of the debt-ridden state coffers and austere defense budgets.
The Japan Times Weekly: May 6, 2006 (C) All rights reserved
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