The Japanese government has invalidated Okinawa governor’s decision to revoke his predecessor’s approval of the relocation of a US military base within the prefecture, Japanese Land and Infrastructure Minister Keiichi Ishii said Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Okinawa governor Takeshi Onaga, who wants the base to be moved outside the region, sent an official nullification of the relocation approval to the Japanese Defense Ministry.

Construction plans for the relocation of Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Futenma from Okinawa's highly-populated district in the city of Ginowan to the Henoko region in the coastal area of Nago, triggered protests over environmental concerns and opposition to the US military presence in Japan.

In April, Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and his US counterpart Ashton Carter reaffirmed the relocation plan, as part of a 2006 intergovernmental agreement to realign the US military presence in the country.

Tokyo will resume construction work at the new site within the prefecture while the Okinawa Prefectural Government intends to challenge the central government's decision to court.

The governor of Japan's Okinawa prefecture said on Monday he will move to halt work on a contentious U.S.A. air base, a headache for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a crucial time in his push to get widely opposed security bills passed.

The central government wants to move the U.S. Marines' Futenma base to another location on the southern island, but many Okinawa residents who resent U.S. military installations want to get rid of it altogether.

Okinawa governor Takeshi Onaga, who won election last year on his anti-base stand and has accused Abe of looking down on the island, said his government will revoke a permit for key landfill work that is needed to relocate the base.

The government forced the bills through the lower house of parliament in July despite massive protests. More than half of people polled on the issue oppose the bills, which would allow Japan's armed forces to defend an ally under attack, a drastic shift in Japan's post-war security policy.

As a parade of senior Australian and United States commanders and their public affairs teams attempted to stay on message about the “humanitarian” aspects of the biggest military exercise ever in Australia — the shadow of China was cast over every facet of the intensive war gaming.

During a lightning visit to the exercise area on Sunday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott insisted that China appreciated that Australia was an ally of the United States.

Mr Abbott further confused things when he declined to rule out the possible future permanent basing of USA forces in Northern Australia.

The Marine Corps training rotation is scheduled to grow from 1100 now to 2200 in the next few years, but Mr Abbott left the door open for even greater access for USA forces to the deserted and wide-open training ranges of Northern Australia.

When asked specifically if there would be USA forces based in the north the prime minister was noncommittal.

“Let’s see what the future holds. I am not saying there will be more … but they shouldn’t shock or surprise anyone.”

Ask any of the thousands of USA Marines participating in Talisman Sabre — particularly those based on the tiny island of Okinawa in Japan — and they will tell you that the NT and Rockhampton are war games nirvana.

Okinawa, which hosts 75 percent of US military bases in Japan, is balking at plans for another base.

Once the independent kingdom of Ryukyu, Okinawa, was annexed by Japan in 1872. At the end of World War II, exactly 70 years ago, Okinawa was the site of one of the war's most ferocious battles. Caught between the armies of Japan and the United States, Okinawans suffered unspeakable horrors during the "typhoon of steel." Viewed as expendable under imperial Japan, many Okinawans were killed outright by Japanese soldiers or forced to commit mass suicide. An estimated 120,000 Okinawans - between one-third and one-quarter of the population - died between March and June 1945.

The pain inflicted during the war and its aftermath underscored the Okinawan core value nuchi du takara ("life is precious") and left many Okinawans highly adverse to warfare and militarism. Despite this, Okinawa has remained one of the most militarized places in the world for more than 70 years, first under direct US military occupation and continuing after Okinawa's "reversion" to Japan in 1972.

Okinawa is by far the smallest of Japan's 47 prefectures, and although it accounts for less than one percent of Japanese territory, it is home to around 24,000 US military personnel, almost half of Japan's total, and is burdened with nearly 75 percent of US bases in Japan.

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Deadlock over the controversial relocation of a US military base in southern Japan deepened Friday when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met the anti-base governor of Okinawa.

The two men remained as far apart as ever after a 30-minute meeting that analysts said was largely Abe going through the motions of consultation ahead of a key trip to the United States.

Takeshi Onaga told reporters he asked Abe "to tell President Obama that the governor of Okinawa and his people are clearly against" plans to build a new facility on the semi-tropical island's coast in exchange for the shuttering of Futenma airbase.

The issue has queered relations between Tokyo and Okinawa, a once independent kingdom that was annexed by Japan in the 19th century, for nearly two decades, and is an irritant in ties with Washington.

Okinawa is home to more than half of the 47,000 US service personnel stationed in Japan as part of a defence alliance, a proportion many islanders say is too high.

Futenma, whose busy runway sits in the middle of a densely-populated city, has become emblematic of that ill-will since Washington announced plans to move it in 1996, in what the US hoped would ease tensions with the host community.

Locals have blocked the move, insisting the facility should go off-island instead, and last year elected the vehemently anti-base Onaga, who is determined to block construction of the new base on the coast.

The standoff between Tokyo and Okinawa has hardened over recent weeks, with demonstrations near the construction site, putting pressure on Abe to ease tensions.

At the start of Friday's meeting, Abe pledged he will "work towards reducing burdens" on Okinawa, but insisted the current plan "is the only solution".

Onaga hit back that three recent popular votes in Okinawa all "showed overwhelming opposition by Okinawans to the construction of a new base."

"Okinawa has never voluntarily offered to host bases," he said, noting that lands were seized during the post-World War II US occupation.

"I'm concerned that things may get nasty if the government keeps taking the current high-handed approach ... prompting anger not only among Okinawans but among some outside the islands," he said. Tokyo and Washington are working to update the guidelines governing their military alliance at a time of rising disquiet over China's growing assertiveness.