The commandant of the Marine Corps expressed concern Wednesday over a U.S. agreement with the Japanese government that requires the service to move thousands of its troops off of Okinawa.

Gen. Eric Smith said the planned transfer of Okinawa-based Marines to Guam in the coming years will distance the force from a critical theater that China seeks to further influence. The agreement also includes moving thousands of Marines to Hawaii, Australia and the continental U.S.

The move “puts us going the wrong way,” he said, specifically fielding a question about Guam. Smith spoke to a group of reporters at a Defense Writers Group event in Washington, D.C.

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The Defense Policy Review Initiative, or DPRI, is part of a three-decade effort to return land owned by the U.S. military back to the Japanese government. Part of that plan includes booting roughly 9,000 Marines out of Okinawa, an island that accounts for less than 1% of Japan’s total land mass, but houses 70% of all U.S. military facilities in the country.

The process to move Marines out of Okinawa is already underway, with a small contingent of roughly 100 logistics Marines arriving in Guam last month as the service builds infrastructure on its newest base there, Camp Blaz.

“Guam puts us on the other side of the International Date Line. … It puts us a long way from the crisis theater, from the priority theater,” Smith said. “Every time you give China a foot, they take a mile. They only understand one thing, which is a credible deterrent force. And that credible deterrent force has to be present to win, which — to me — means being [in] the first island chain.”

Roughly 19,000 Marines are stationed in Okinawa, the vast majority of whom belong to the III Marine Expeditionary Force. The unit bills itself as the “nucleus” of a joint “stand-in” force focused on the first island chain, a nearly 750-mile row of archipelagoes east of China that U.S. officials have long considered critical to military operations in the region.

A joint statement from the Marine Corps and Japanese military on Dec. 14 said that the group of 100 III MEF troops moving to Guam “signifies the first phase of relocating Marines to locations outside of Japan.”

Under the agreement, 5,000 will move to Guam from Okinawa, with thousands more to relocate to bases in Hawaii, Australia and the contiguous U.S. Officials did not publish a timeline for when the redistribution will be completed, and Smith did not reference personnel moves to the other listed countries.

Smith acknowledged that the DPRI is a treaty obligation between the U.S. and Japanese governments, adding that the Marine Corps will comply with the agreement “unless and until it changes.”

U.S. military presence on Okinawa has strained relations with the island’s residents for decades, with local flashpoints — often crimes by service members — clashing with international security aims. Okinawa was under post-World War II occupation until 1972, but still bears the lion’s share of military facilities and personnel when compared to the rest of Japan.

Okinawans have long protested U.S. forces there, especially after a sailor and two Marines kidnapped, raped and beat a 12-year-old girl in 1995, sparking outrage and judicial reform. The U.S. and Japan agreed to reduce the amount of U.S. land it uses on Okinawa by nearly one-quarter the following year.

Reported misconduct by service members on the island has continued, with some Japanese leaders as recently as last week urging the U.S. military to tighten its hold on troops, following four allegations of sexual assault over the last year-plus. The joint military statement from December announcing the movement of troops to Guam also said that the Marine Corps is committed to the defense of Japan “while mitigating the impact on local communities, including those in Okinawa.”

Previously, the military has tightened liberty rules for service members in Japan, as well as implementing stricter gate checks in response to the incidents. In July, Lt. Gen. Roger Turner — the commander of III MEF — and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, penned a joint letter expressing “deep regret” following a pair of alleged sexual crimes perpetrated by a Marine and an airman.

The Japanese government has funded Guam construction projects, according to the December joint-military statement, contributing up to $2.8 billion for infrastructure projects at Camp Blaz, Naval Base Guam and Andersen Air Force Base. The U.S. will fund remaining costs while the buildup of Guam continues.

“We’re committed to coming down to about 10,000 on Okinawa and getting ourselves to Guam,” Smith, the commandant, said Wednesday, subsequently referring to a deep-water port on the west side of the island. “But Guam is a challenge. I mean, Apra Harbor still has to be refurbished; [it] has to be redone to allow for big decks to get in there. So I’m not sure that is in the best strategic interest of America.”

Related: US Marines Start Partial Transfer from Okinawa in Japan to Guam Under Plan Agreed 12 Years Ago

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