Japan Parliament OKs Revised Pact on U.S. Marines Transfer to Guam

Tokyo, April 23 (Jiji Press)--Japan's parliament approved on Wednesday a revised pact on the planned transfer of U.S. Marines to Guam from Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan. The House of Councillors, the upper chamber, approved the pact at a plenary meeting by a majority vote with the support from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, its coalition partner New Komeito, and the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan, after the House of Representatives passed it earlier this month. The new pact will take effect shortly after adjustments between the Japanese and U.S. governments. Under the pact, Japan will shoulder part of costs for building facilities such as training areas in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands where the Marines and their families will be transferred, eyeing the possibility of joint use by the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military in the future. Last October, the two countries' foreign and defense ministers signed the revised pact at their so-called two-plus-two meeting in Tokyo, in response to changes in the planned realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. On Wednesday, Japan's Upper House also passed into law a bill to ratify a multilateral treaty to regulate international trade in conventional weapons such as tanks by a unanimous vote. The treaty was adopted at the U.N. General Assembly in April last year and has been ratified by some 30 countries so far. It will take effect 90 days after its ratification in at least 50 countries. END