The United States has started moving thousands of Marine Corps soldiers from the Japanese island of Okinawa to other locations, as announced by Tokyo and Washington on Saturday, following decades of complaints from local residents about the American military presence on the island.

In 2012, the United States announced plans to relocate nine thousand marines stationed on the island, where communities consider the American bases a burden due to pollution, noise, and helicopter crashes.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense and Marine Corps reported that the transfer process began with "a small group of about 100 logistics support marines" being moved to the U.S. territory of Guam.

The joint statement added that the transfer to Guam is the "first phase of relocating marines to locations outside Japan.

Currently, about 19,000 marines are stationed in Okinawa, strategically located east of Taiwan, which has become a point of tension between the United States and China.

Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its territory and does not rule out the use of force to bring the self-governing island under its control.

Washington is Taiwan's most prominent supporter and largest arms supplier, but it has long maintained "strategic ambiguity" about the possibility of providing ground forces support.

The United States is scheduled to move the marines to other bases in the Pacific region, including Guam, Hawaii, or Australia.