The 21-year-old man will face court after being charged over an alleged incident at a bar outside of Darwin.

Northern Territory Police said a 21-year-old man had been issued a notice to appear on Tuesday, following the alleged incident in Palmerston on April 30.

It is unclear if the Marine has been stood down over the allegations.

“MRF-D takes allegations of misconduct seriously and we hold our Marines and Sailors to the highest standards of conduct."

Hundreds of U.S. Marines and sailors, Australian soldiers and Japanese Self-Defense Force members are conducting a major warfighting exercise in Australia.

Shoalwater Bay, where the training is taking place, is an arena for the biennial Talisman Sabre exercise, which involved 17,000 U.S., Australian, New Zealand, Japanese, South Korean and British troops last summer.

Australian politicians reacted with alarm earlier this month after revelations that the Solomon Islands, 1,200 miles northeast of Shoalwater, was negotiating a security pact with China.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison refused to say how his government might respond if China attempted to establish a military base in the islands.

The exercise has taken place each year since 2015.

More than 650 military personnel including US Marines and sailors have joined Japanese and Australian soldiers for a large-scale, live-fire training exercise this month.

The exercise, which will include live firing, comprises 400 Australian Defence Force (ADF) soldiers, 190 US Marines from Marine Rotational Force Darwin (MRF-D) and 70 soldiers from the Japanese Ground Self Defence Force (JGSDF).

It started Monday and is scheduled to take place throughout the heritage-listed, 453,700 hectare Shoalwater Bay Military Training area, about 80km north of Rockhampton in Central Queensland, through to May 27.

Brigadier Michael Say, Commander of the Brisbane-based 7th Combat Brigade, said the combined arms exercise would include tank integration and live fire between infantries.

The governor of the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa says Australian Defence Force personnel are not welcome on the 150 islands he administers, as fears grow that rising tensions between China and US allies will lead to conflict in the region.

Denny Tamaki, the top official in the region who is up for re-election this year, said in an interview that he was worried the existing concentration of US forces had already made the islands a target for hostile forces.

He said the Okinawan people did not support Australian or other foreign defence personnel holding joint military exercises in Okinawa. Australia and Japan signed a defence deal in January that will open the way for their forces to step up training and host each other’s military.

“As the governor here, I would say that many people in Okinawa would oppose having Australian Defence Forces being stationed here, even temporarily, or to use a base in Okinawa where 70 per cent of the US forces in Japan have already been concentrated.”

US Marine Corps Commandant General David H. Berger said he supports an open-ended increase in the number of Marines rotated into the country.

“I think the limits of that will be as far as Australia will allow us to go,” he said.

“Darwin does for us … two basic things. It gives us a place to train at scale alongside a partner at a high end.

“You can use every tool in the tool kit and press things to the limit in terms of realism.

“It’s awesome and we’re doing it with a partner who uses the same howitzer, uses the same equipment, who thinks the same.

During the Q&A session, ASPI executive director Peter Jennings said he supported the inclusion of Japanese Marines in the north Australian posture.