Report: Japan may partly shoulder cost of US base on Tinian

The Fitial administration and the Tinian mayor’s office separately said yesterday they have yet to receive any communication from the U.S. Department of Defense regarding Japanese media reports that Washington, D.C. is considering Tokyo’s proposal to shoulder part of its expenses for the development of a U.S. military base and related facilities on Tinian.

If confirmed, any permanent military base on Tinian “would be economically beneficial for the municipality and the Commonwealth as a whole,” said press secretary Angel Demapan.

“More so, it would also mean that the United States would finally honor one of the terms of the technical lease agreement. That is that a base would be situated and operated on Tinian,” the press secretary said.

Two-thirds of land on Tinian is leased by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that “Tokyo apparently made the proposal to fend off Washington’s demand that Japan increase its share of the costs of the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. The realignment is currently under review.” The Japanese media quoted sources close to Japan-U.S. relations.

Tinian Mayor Ramon Dela Cruz said he has not heard directly from the military of any plan to build a permanent base on Tinian.

The report came out while Gov. Benigno R. Fitial is still awaiting response from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta regarding the governor’s request for a renegotiation of the 100-year Tinian land lease agreement, citing lack of promised military activities on the island.

When asked whether the reported plan to build a base on Tinian might make Fitial change his mind, Demapan said the reported plan is “a promising sign.”

“But again, this information has yet to be communicated to our local government, so it’s still a bit premature to speculate at this point,” Demapan said. “The information being reported by Japanese media has not been communicated to the Commonwealth government by any DoD official.”

So far, the only concrete proposal on the table regarding Tinian is the construction of live-fire training ranges that were approved last year.

Moreover, over 200 Marines from Japan are set to train on Tinian in May to June under “Exercise Geiger Fury MAG-12.” MAG-12 stands for Marine Aircraft Group-12.

The Joint Guam Program Office had yet to respond to a request for confirmation of the Japanese media report as of last night.

The Yomiuri Shimbun said the Japanese government plans to shoulder the U.S. base development costs on Tinian, an island with a population of 3,000.

“It would do so to establish a joint training base for both countries, since the Ground Self-Defense Force is planning joint military exercises with the U.S. Marine Corps on the island, eight kilometers from Saipan and 160 kilometers from Guam, according to the sources,” it said.

Washington is urging Japan to adopt a greater financial burden in the realignment, but Tokyo is asking the U.S. to maintain the Japan-U.S. agreement in 2006 that capped the Japanese burden at $2.8 billion, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

Tokyo is hoping to break this stalemate by shouldering part of U.S. expenses for development of the facilities on the island, in addition to Japan’s share of costs for relocating U.S. Marines in Okinawa Prefecture to Guam, it added.

Ground Self-Defense Force personnel and U.S. Marines have been conducting joint amphibious exercises at a U.S. marine base in California and other locations. However, they could not find a suitable location in the western Pacific.

The Japanese side believes the GSDF will be able to conduct such exercises with U.S. Marines more often and improve its capabilities if the exercises can be held on Tinian.

The U.S. side is said to be receptive to the proposal because U.S. Marines have difficulty conducting large-scale exercises in Guam, partly due to the proximity of training facilities to civilian residential areas.

Meanwhile, the Tinian lease was already paid in full by Defense through 2030, making it unlikely to be renegotiated now as the Fitial administration has been asking Defense. That payment totaled $33 million.

But Demapan said Fitial “still maintains that the lease shouldn’t be considered as ‘fulfilled’ just because the dollar figure was paid.”

“As a signatory to the technical lease agreement, Gov. Fitial continues to push for the fulfillment of the other terms and conditions, such as the promise of a military base, civilian employment opportunities, and commissary privileges for the people of Tinian,” Demapan said.

He added that these promises “were part of the reason our local leaders agreed to execute the Tinian lease agreement, because there were benefits for the people.”

“Now, decades later, the promises that the military made to the people of Tinian have yet to materialize. This is why Gov. Fitial is raising the issue to Defense Secretary Panetta, so that the people of Tinian may be given what was promised to them,” Demapan said.

Panetta has yet to respond to Fitial’s letter.