China News Service, October 16-According to Kyodo News, sources in Japan-US relations revealed that on the 15th, the two governments have initiated work negotiations to determine the funding burden (warm budget) for US troops stationed in Japan for five years starting from 2021.
Formal negotiations will begin after the US presidential election in November.
According to reports, the special agreement stipulating that Japan will pay for the US military in Japan will expire at the end of 2020, so Japan and the United States need to sign a new agreement.
Affected by the new crown epidemic and limited personnel exchanges, the first negotiations between Japan and the United States on this issue were held through video conferences.
Officials from Japan's foreign affairs and defense provinces and the US State Department and Defense Department attended the meeting.
The object of the negotiation involves the base's water, electricity and gas costs, employee labor costs, training transfer costs, etc. The total amount in the 2020 budget is 199.3 billion yen (approximately RMB 12.7 billion).
According to reports, former U.S. presidential assistant Bolton wrote in a memoir published in June 2020 that Trump intends to ask Japan to pay 8 billion U.S. dollars (about 840 billion yen) in military expenses each year.
Japan is cautious about the substantial increase on the grounds that it has already paid the corresponding part of its military expenditure.
In addition, as Japan’s 2021 budget plan is finalized by the cabinet meeting in December, there are also opinions from Japan that a one-year tentative agreement should be signed on the current burden content, and the part from 2022 will be negotiated separately.