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HAGATNA, Guam, May 16 KYODO
''This is the biggest event for Guam since the end of World War II,'' said Michael Benito, board chairman of the Guam Chamber of Commerce.
''We are very exited at the news of the U.S. Marines' relocation,'' Benito said. He was referring to the 8,000 Marines and their 9,000 family members Washington is moving from Okinawa to Guam by 2014 as part of a May 1 accord with Tokyo on realigning the U.S. military presence in Japan.
''We are sure to have great business opportunities,'' Benito said.
It will cost an estimated $10.2 billion to transfer the Marines and their families to Guam, population 170,000, according to the May 1 U.S.-Japan realignment accord. But details of the cost have yet to be disclosed.
Mark Forbes, speaker of Guam's legislature, said Guam supports the relocation because of the impact it will have on the territory's economy. He cited increased tax revenue and the professional contributions of the Marines and members of their families as nurses and teachers.
But Forbes added that Guam's infrastructure is already being strained ''beyond its limits to accommodate the current residents and will require significant investment and upgrades.''
On March 31, Guam's parliament passed a resolution requesting $24 billion in assistance from Washington to upgrade civilian infrastructure such as a new electrical plant, sewer maintenance, road construction and new schools outside military bases.
Forbes said that Guam would be dissatisfied if the budget Hagatna and Washington put together in connection with relocating the Marines fails to include sufficient expenses for improving Guam's civilian infrastructure.
An enthusiastic mood dominates the island and almost everyone knows the news. According to a Pacific Daily News poll conducted via the Internet, 77 percent of Guam residents said ''yes'' to the question of whether they support the Marines' relocation. Twenty-two percent indicated they do not support it.
After the relocation was announced, land prices rose dramatically. Prices in the Tumon beach area -- one of the best places for viewing the sunset -- jumped almost 50 percent within just six months, according to a local real estate agency.
''Guam needs military-related industry as well as, of course, tourism,'' Benito said. Some 12.2 million tourists visited the U.S. territory last year.
James Martinez, executive director of the Guam Contractors Association, said his group has received numerous calls from mainland contractors.
''They are very much interested in the Marines' relocation,'' he said. More than 200 local and mainland contractors including KBR Inc., a subsidiary of Halliburton Co. that was once headed by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, are already on Guam.
Martinez quoted Japanese lawmaker Mikio Simoji, who is from Okinawa where the Marines to be relocated are currently stationed, as having offered during his recent visit to Guam to send ''skilled workers from Okinawa and Japanese high-tech construction companies.''
''We are sure to need more skilled workers for military-related construction,'' Martinez said, adding that these could include Filipino and Japanese workers on special visas.
Some islanders are more cautious in their assessment of the Marines' relocation.
Lieutenant Gov. of Guam Kaleo Moylan said the island basically welcomes the Marines but said he worries about potential harm being done to Guam's image as a tourist spot.
Debbie Quinata, leader of the Chamorro Nation, an organization of natives and anti-base activists, strongly opposes the relocation.
''Military presence results in a negative impact on our society,'' she said. ''Crime rates will increase. (The Marines) should relocate to the U.S. mainland.''
==Kyodo
TOKYO, Nov. 22 KYODO 2005
As anticipated, Russian President Vladimir Putin's summit talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi ended without any tangible progress over their countries' territorial row or any surprises.
With neither a joint political document nor a new proposal to speak of after the talks, Koizumi and Putin simply confirmed their commitment to continuing dialogue on the longstanding dispute over a group of islands off Hokkaido.
''We recognized the need to resolve the island ownership issue and conclude a peace treaty. But frankly speaking, there are considerable gaps between the two countries,'' Koizumi said in a news conference with Putin after their talks.
Putin said he understands that the resolution of the issue is ''not easy'' but both leaders said they will strive to find a solution to the territorial dispute in an acceptable manner.
Ahead of the talks, Japanese officials and experts believed there would be no substantial progress on the dispute, which has prevented the two countries from signing a post-World War II peace treaty.
A senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official said Tokyo had tried hard to issue a political document addressing the issue, but added, ''It is better not to have a joint statement at all than one that would become a setback (for Japan) in talks on the disputed islands.''
Another official said Japan should not release any statement that could be taken as a ''concession'' on Japan's part.
It is rare for leaders of two countries to fail to issue a joint political document on such an important issue, and means the road ahead will continue to be rough.
Japan and Russia have long been divided over the sovereignty of Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the southern Kurils.
Japan has been demanding the return of all four islands, citing the 1993 Tokyo Declaration, which says the governments of the two countries should conclude a peace treaty through a solution to the dispute.
Russia wants to resolve the dispute in line with the 1956 Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration, which stipulates that Moscow would return Shikotan and the Habomai islets off Nemuro on the eastern tip of Hokkaido to Japan after the conclusion of a peace treaty.
The Koizumi-Putin meeting could not have generated any better results in view of the circumstances surrounding the two countries.
Japan miscalculated in its diplomacy toward Russia, especially after Russia recently started taking a tougher line on the territorial issue, said Shigeki Hakamada, an Aoyama Gakuin University professor specializing in Russian affairs.
Russia has become tougher on the territorial row with Japan, apparently because its reliance on Japan for economic assistance has decreased amid the robust economic expansion in Russia, stemming from higher crude oil prices.
Japan and Russia ''failed to continue playing catch'' after Russia threw the ball, Hakamada said, adding Japan could have shown more wisdom in responding positively.
Hakamada was referring to Japan's sharp reaction to Putin's televised press conference in September in which the Russian president said there is no room for further discussion of Russia's sovereignty over the islands.
With the territorial issue deadlocked, economic issues took center stage in the Koizumi-Putin summit.
Prospects seem brighter for bilateral ties on the economic front, including a pipeline project that would help Japan secure oil supplies.
After the summit, the Japanese and Russian governments adopted 12 documents including ones on antiterrorism and economic cooperation measures.
In a document on the pipeline project -- another main focus of the summit -- Russia promised Japan that it will build a Pacific-bound oil pipeline linking eastern Siberia with the Russian Far East but fell short of setting a date for constructing it.
In a news conference later Monday, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi dismissed concerns that economic cooperation could put the territorial dispute into the shadows, saying Japan will continue to work toward resolving the territorial row.
For starters, Koizumi accepted an invitation by Putin to make a state visit to Russia next year. Meanwhile, Koizumi invited Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov to visit Japan also next year and Putin basically accepted it, Japanese officials said.
But if Russia's intransigence on the territorial issue continues, it could trigger ire from the Japanese government.
''It's like the Yasukuni issue,'' one Japanese Foreign Ministry official said, claiming that Russia is stubbornly making a case out of the territorial row in the way China and South Korea do with regard to Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine.
==Kyodo
HAGATNA, Guam, May 16 KYODO
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