US to deploy new mobile Marine unit in Japan's Okinawa: Austin

The U.S. and Japanese national flags are hoisted next to a traditional Okinawan Shisa statue at the US Marine's Camp Foster in Ginowan, on the southern island of Okinawa, Japan June 18, 2016. Reuters-Yonhap

The United States will deploy a newly mobile Marine unit in Japan's southern island of Okinawa in a bid to respond better to rising threats led by China, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday.

Forces will be reorganized by 2025 into a "Marine Littoral Regiment" in response to "an increasingly challenging security environment," Austin told a joint news conference after talks with the Japanese defense and foreign ministers. (AFP)