TOKYO – Lawmakers in Okinawa, southern Japan, passed a non-binding resolution on Friday against a government plan to relocate a U.S. military base, a move that could affect local negotiations on the realignment.

Japan has tried to persuade Okinawa residents to agree to a planned move of the U.S. Marines' Futenma air base from the crowded city of Ginowan to the coastal city of Nago on the same island, part of a broader plan that would shift about 8,000 Marines to Guam.

But Okinawans have opposed the plan, complaining about noise and crime associated with the bases, and resentful of the island's heavy burden under the U.S.-Japan security alliance.

Okinawa plays host to the bulk of the 50,000 or so U.S. troops based in Japan.

'We strongly demand that construction be put off immediately,' an official at the Okinawa prefectural assembly quoted the resolution, addressed to the U.S. and Japanese governments and the Okinawa governor, as saying.

While the resolution does not require the government to scrap the plan, the move could affect details, such as preparatory work under way to check the environmental impact of the relocation, Kyodo news agency said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura stressed that the air base plan was part of the broader plan to move Marines to Guam.

'I want people to understand that the moving of Futenma is just part of the total package, which is aimed at lightening the burden on Okinawans as much as possible,' he told a news conference.

Local residents were outraged earlier this year after the arrest of a Marine on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl. The girl withdrew her complaint but a U.S. court martial sentenced the Marine to four years in prison for sexual abuse in May.

The case triggered memories of the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old girl by three U.S. servicemen, an incident that ignited huge protests on the island.

(Reporting by Chisa Fujioka; Editing by Alex Richardson)