In November of last year, the US Forces in Japan and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces are conducting an annual integrated military exercise,’Keen Sword’. US Pacific Fleet Facebook capture
The US and Japanese governments officially resumed negotiations on contributions to the US Forces in Japan for fiscal year 2021.
According to Kyodo News on the 3rd, the U.S. and Japan began working-level discussions on the levies of U.S. forces in Japan through video conference the previous day. This is the first consultation that has been made since the inauguration of the US administration by Joe Biden.
The two countries began negotiating the cost of the US troops in Japan in November last year, but the resignation of the US president at the time of the US President Donald Trump, which had been demanding a significant increase, was confirmed, and the Japanese side delayed it after the US regime change.
In the first phone call of the U.S. and Japan foreign ministers after the inauguration of the Biden administration on the 27th of last month, Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu told the U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blincoln to temporarily extend the U.S.-Japan defense expenditure agreement, which expires in March, from the current level for one year. I figured out how to do it. It is a plan to conclude a provisional agreement with the current contribution of 200 billion yen (about 2.1 trillion KRW) for fiscal year 2021 and renegotiate the contribution after 2022 within this year.
According to Kyodo News, the US side also agreed to this in the process of working-level discussions. Japan’s contribution to US forces in Japan is determined on the basis of a special agreement on US-Japan defense costs, which is renewed every five years, which means that both sides agreed to a temporary extension of one year. In 2006, they agreed to a temporary extension for two years on the grounds of the reorganization of US forces in Japan.
In the budget for fiscal year 2021, the Japanese government set 201.7 billion yen (approximately 2.4 trillion won) for contributions to the US forces in Japan. This is a 1.2% increase from 199.3 billion yen in fiscal 2020. In accordance with the existing special agreement on defense expenses, if the contribution of US forces in Japan is determined for fiscal year 2021, it is not expected that the budget will not exceed the budget set by the Japanese government.
Tokyo= Kim Hoe-kyung Correspondent [email protected]
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