US, Japan committed to Okinawa base move: Campbell: "A top US diplomat on Sunday underlined Washington's commitment to relocating an unpopular military base within Japan's southern Okinawa island, brushing aside calls to freeze the plan.
A group of influential US senators urged the White House earlier this month to reconsider plans to relocate the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, saying Tokyo needed to focus on rebuilding from the March 11 quake and tsunami.
But Kurt Campbell, Washington's assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told a news conference the US planned to go ahead with the move.
'It's extraordinarily important for the United States and Japan to take steps to ease the burden on the people of Okinawa, both in terms of operations and in terms of bases, and I think we have done that and would like to do more,' Campbell said."
