U.S. maintains presence in Okinawa despite retirement of F-15 planes

The United States pledged on Tuesday to maintain a "steady-state" military presence in Okinawa, Japan's southern island prefecture, while it withdraws its F-15 fighter planes from Kadena Air Base and replaces them with a "rotational" force.

The action coincides with China's growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific, notably toward Taiwan. In a letter to the Pentagon, four prominent Republicans worried that....