On the 2nd, the US and Japan officially resumed negotiations on defense cost contributions to determine the expenses for the presence of US troops in Japan during the 2021 fiscal year (2021.4~2022.3). This is the first formal negotiations since the inauguration of the Joe Biden administration.
On the 2nd, after Biden was launched, the first working-level discussion was held.
Tentative agreement between the two sides to “extend the current level by 1 year”
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In November of last year, the US Forces in Japan and the Japanese Self-Defense Force are training’Keen Sword’, an annual integrated military exercise. [미 태평양함대 페이스북 계정=연합뉴스]
– According to the support report on the 3rd, the US and Japan held working-level negotiations on the expenses of the US troops stationed in Japan by video conference the previous day. The two countries started negotiations in November of last year, but they had postponed discussions after the US presidential election, as they could not find an agreement due to the demand for a significant increase from the US president at the time of Donald Trump.
In this consultation, the Japanese side is known to have proposed to temporarily extend the defense cost share to the current level for one year, and to reconsider the signing of a special agreement to determine the cost of stationing after fiscal 2022. The US side is also positive about this, Kyodo News Agency said.
The U.S. and Japan set a share of both sides related to the presence of U.S. troops in Japan through the’Special Agreement on the Burden of US Forces in Japan’, which is updated every five years. The current agreement ends in March 2021. There are only two months left until the expiration.
Former US President Trump has asked Japan to share $8 billion (8.900 billion won), which is four times the current share of about 200 billion yen (about 2,100 billion won) ahead of the renewal of the agreement.
The Japanese government has allocated 2017 billion yen (approximately 2.4 trillion won) to US forces in Japan in the budget for fiscal 2021. This is a 1.2% increase from the 193 billion yen contribution to the US forces in Japan as of fiscal 2020. Currently, about 54,000 US troops are stationed in Japan.
Accordingly, attention is also being drawn to the negotiations for the Special Agreement on the Korea-US Defense Cost Share (SMA), which will be initiated soon by Korea and the United States. As the 10th SMA ended at the end of 2019, the ROK and the U.S. began the 11th SMA negotiations from September of the same year, but they have yet to find a point of agreement due to a request for a “five-fold increase” from former President Trump.
Lloyd Austin, the new US Secretary of Defense, said after his nomination last month that “we will push for an early settlement of the defense cost share negotiations with South Korea.”
Tokyo = Correspondent Lee Young-hee [email protected]
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