TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — US Marines stationed in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture began a long-awaited transfer to a base in the US territory of Guam on Saturday, more than a decade since the transfer was negotiated.
Among the approximately 19,000 marines stationed in Okinawa, the US has agreed to ease the burden of US forces by relocating around 9,000 out of the prefecture. This week, a small detachment of 100 marines will relocate to Camp Blaz in Guam to prepare for the transfer of a larger contingent later in 2025, reported the Associated Press.
Earlier in the year, it was reported that Camp Blaz will eventually house around 5,000 marines from the III Marine Expeditionary Force. Guam already hosts a significant number of troops and equipment for the Air Force and Navy and will serve as a strategic hub for US forces in the Pacific.
Okinawa houses more than half of the US forces in Japan. The presence of so many soldiers has been a contentious issue for decades.
Negotiations to relocate and disperse troops from Okinawa’s capital region of Naha began in 2006. They were not settled until 2012, and progress has been slow in implementing the agreement.
Part of the agreement was that Japan would help to fund infrastructure upgrades at Camp Blaz. The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that Japan spent US$2.75 billion (NT$89.5 billion) to prepare the base for the arrival of the US Marines. The US reportedly spent an additional US$6 billion on the relocation.
In addition to the transfer of marines to Guam, a new US air base is also being built near Nago City, a less populated area of Okinawa. The new base, which is expected to be operational by 2027, will further reduce the troop count at Futenma Air Station, which is located near the capital of Naha.
The US military and the Japan Self-Defense Forces have also been developing military bases in the Yaeyama Island Group, located only several hundred kilometers east of Taiwan. In the coming years, troops will likely be relocated from the Naha region to these islands in preparation for a possible conflict involving Taiwan and China.
