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Japan says deal expected on moving US troops

Posted on: Thursday, 13 October 2005, 21:00 CDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Japan hopes to reach a deal with the United States before the end of the month on relocating some of the 47,000 U.S. troops stationed there, Japan's Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura has told a British newspaper.

"We are just now entering the final stage," he said in an interview published by Britain's Financial Times newspaper on Friday. "Both countries are trying to come to an agreement within this month."

He said an interim report should be ready for when U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to visit Japan in mid-November, according to the newspaper's report.

Machimura gave no details of when the troops might move, where they may go, or the numbers under discussion.

The newspaper said the talks were likely to end with an agreement to reduce the number of troops stationed on the island of Okinawa, with some moved outside Japan, including to the Pacific island Guam.

The United States has come under pressure to move or withdraw troops from Japan after a string of accidents, violent crimes and disputes over environmental issues.

Many people in Okinawa have called for reducing what they say is their unfair burden of hosting the bulk of the U.S. military's personnel in Japan.

Okinawa, 1,000 miles southwest of Tokyo, has less than 1 percent of Japan's total land mass but has more than half the U.S. military presence.

The United States has said it plans to bring home some 70,000 troops from Europe and Asia within a decade as it shifts its military focus to new threats.

However, some analysts have said the changes will mean a bigger role for Japan as a strategic hub for U.S. forces.

Source: REUTERS

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