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Japan US agree more mly closures on Okinawa

TOKYO: Japan and the United States, yielding to popular pressure, on Monday announced the closure of six more US military facilities on the island of Okinawa.

Okinawans who have been crying "Yankee Go Home" were also promised, on the eve of US President Bill Clinton's visit to Japan, that the size of four other military facilities would be reduced.

The amount of Okinawan land occupied by US forces would be reduced by a fifth under the plan, announced by US Defence Secretary William Perry and Japanese Foreign Minister Yukihiko Ikeda.

On Friday, the two nations had announced closure of the major Futenma Air Base in a first step towards cutting the American military presence in Japan.

Located 1,000 km (650 miles) south of Tokyo, Okinawa is home to about 75 percent of U.S. military bases and nearly half the 47,000 U.S. service personnel in Japan, although it makes up less than one percent of the country's total land area.

Perry and Ikeda announced the latest cutbacks at a joint news conference in Tokyo where they signed an agreement sealing the measures.

"The total acreage of the US facilities and areas in Okinawa is estimated to decrease by approximately 20 per cent," the agreement said.

"These measures will reduce the impact of the activities of US Forces on communities in Okinawa, while fully maintaining the capabilities and readiness of US Forces in Japan."

Perry said Clinton's summit with Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto this week had far-reaching implications for Japan and Asia.

"The summit will be the most significant summit since the end of the Cold War," he said.

US Ambassador Walter Mondale said, without elaborating: "The two leaders will announce a very strong reaffirmation of the security alliance."

Perry also signed on Monday a separate agreement which allows the United States to receive from Japan military supplies and services for U.S. forces in peacetime.

The Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) allows the Japanese government to provide military supplies, excluding weapons, for U.S. forces for peacetime joint exercises, U.N. peacekeeping operations and humanitarian operations such as disaster relief. It will not apply in wartime.

The United States first proposed the agreement to Japan in 1988, following similar arrangements with 19 other countries.

The two sides are also talking about the possibility of U.S. military forces having access to Japanese civilian airports in times of "emergency" as a way of giving back land, particularly on Okinawa, without compromising Japanese and Asian security needs.-Reuter