TOKYO (AFP) -- Japan's defense chief hinted Tuesday the government would go ahead with a controversial realignment of U.S. forces whatever the outcome of a local referendum on hosting more troops.

The southwestern city of Iwakuni has announced a vote for March 12 on whether it should host 57 more U.S. carrier-based warplanes to be relocated from Kanagawa prefecture near Tokyo.

"The government will do what it needs to do for the safety of the state and its people as well as for regional stability," Defense Agency Director-General Fukushiro Nukaga told reporters.

"I want the local residents to think hard about whether the issue is a matter for their area or for the state as a whole," he added.

Nukaga said the government will continue trying to persuade local governments to accept the realignment plans. "We explain to local bodies every issue determined in meetings with the United States and hear their wishes," he said. "We just have to do our best to come to an agreement."

The referendum in Iwakuni is the first direct vote on the realignment plan reached in October between Japan and the United States.

The bilateral deal aims to ease the burden on communities hosting U.S. forces, particularly in the tiny southern island chain of Okinawa, which hosts more than half of the 40,000 U.S. troops in Japan.

But the plan has run into a groundswell of public opposition, with many local leaders calling for a greater withdrawal of U.S. forces whom they blame for noise and crime.

U.S. troops are stationed in Japan under a security alliance reached after Tokyo was defeated in World War II and barred from maintaining an armed forces. Fourteen of Japan's 47 prefectures host U.S. bases.