February 17 The Japanese government announced on the 17th that it had reached an agreement with the U.S. government on the financing of the U.S. military in Japan.
In fiscal year 2021, the current special agreement will be temporarily extended for one year, and Japan will bear 2017.7 billion yen (about 1.9 billion US dollars).
The two sides will negotiate again on the apportionment of the U.S. military in Japan after fiscal year 2021.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshi Mogi stressed at a press conference that the two sides reached an agreement on the funding of the U.S. military in Japan shortly after the Biden administration came to power, demonstrating the unity of the Japan-US alliance.
He also said that the Japan-US alliance will be further strengthened in the future.
The U.S. military in Japan borne by Japan includes utilities, employee salaries and training transfer fees at U.S. military bases in Japan. Usually, the special agreement on the financing of the U.S. military in Japan is updated every five years.
According to the special agreement signed by the Japanese and American governments in December 2015, Japan was responsible for the total expenditure of the U.S. military in Japan from 2016 to 2020 was 946.5 billion yen (about 8.93 billion US dollars), which will expire at the end of March 2021.
Last November, the Japanese and American governments launched formal negotiations on the financing of the U.S. military in Japan. The two sides failed to reach an agreement.
Later, due to the change of U.S. regime, Japan postponed the negotiations until January this year when Biden took office as president.
Japan has included the 2017 billion yen budget in the 2021 fiscal year budget prepared at the end of last year.
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