China News Service, December 6th. According to a report from Kyodo News on the 6th, Japan and the United States have conducted final consultations on the funding of the US troops stationed in Japan. The results show that Japan is basically certain that it will agree to a certain extent. The U.S. requested an increase in the burden, but the Japanese requested a reduction in the burden of water, electricity and gas charges. The reason is that this is not directly related to increasing deterrence and cannot be understood by the people.
Data map: On June 19, 2016, a large-scale rally was held in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, requesting all the US Marines stationed in Okinawa to leave, and fundamentally revising the agreement to grant judicial asylum privileges to the US military stationed in Japan.
According to the report, according to diplomatic sources, from the end of November to the beginning of December, the governments of Japan and the United States held the final stage of consultations between their staff in Washington, the United States, on the issue of the funding burden of the US troops stationed in Japan from 2022.
The report pointed out that Japan seems to believe that it is inevitable to increase the burden of a certain amount of funding to enhance the deterrence and response capabilities of the Japan-US alliance.
The increase will be the focus in the future.
In the Japanese government's 2021 budget, a total of 2017 billion yen (approximately RMB 11.4 billion) is included in the burden of residency expenses, including water, electricity and gas costs for US military bases in Japan, Japanese staff salaries, training transfer fees, etc.
Due to the severe financial situation, the Japanese side has been negotiating in the direction of restraining the increase in the amount of money.
According to reports, a number of diplomatic sources said that the Japanese side requested a reduction in the burden of water, electricity and gas charges during the negotiations on the grounds that this is not directly related to increasing deterrence and cannot be understood by the people.
The Japanese side advocates that the increased amount be used to improve the airfields shared by the Self-Defense Forces and the US military, as well as joint training and other funds.
Japan and the United States will reach a consensus in December, and it is expected to use the "Japan-US Security Consultation Committee" (2+2) meeting attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense, which is coordinating to be held in January 2022, to sign the burden of residency expenses. Special agreement.
The report said that the current special agreement expired in March 2021.
However, because the negotiation period coincides with the U.S. presidential election in the fall of 2020 and the transfer of power, after the Biden administration took office in January 2021, Japan and the United States reached an agreement on a one-year extension and reopened consultations.