The United States will remove 7,000 Marines from Okinawa in a major overhaul of American troops and bases in Japan under a U.S. global plan to make its military more flexible, top officials said on Saturday, according to Reuters. The base realignment unveiled by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his Japanese counterpart, Yoshinori Ohno, also boosts bilateral military cooperation in areas ranging from disaster relief to ballistic missile defense to counterproliferation. "This relationship must and is in fact evolving to remain strong and relevant," said Rumsfeld, whose Pentagon has long urged Japan to contribute more to global security. Ohno told reporters "we are in fact opening a new era" in the evolution of the bilateral alliance beyond its initial narrow role of protecting Japan to cover contingencies in areas surrounding the Pacific Ocean island nation. "We're now talking about joint activities in various areas between Japan and the United States in order to improve the peace security around the world," he said.
