Japan should pay more for US armed forces

Japan has decided to accept a request from the United States to pay more to house its armed forces from budget year 2022 after the two countries held working-level negotiations in Washington from late November to early this month, diplomatic sources said on Sunday.

Japan is expected to reach an agreement with the United States on the increase before Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s cabinet decides later this month on a draft budget for the fiscal year beginning April.

The Japanese government is believed to have decided that some increase in so-called host nation support is inevitable in the face of the need to strengthen its long-standing security alliance as U.S. forces mobilize their most advanced hardware in China’s swift military Tackle expansion.

The next focus will be on the magnitude of the increase as the cost of stationing American troops in Japan also increases.

For the current fiscal year ending March 201.7 billion yen ($ 1.79 billion) was estimated to cover costs such as utilities and wages for Japanese personnel at US military bases.

Japan had tried to minimize an increase in aid due to its tight finances, while Washington, according to sources, had asked Tokyo to pay more of the cost as US forces had a need to deal with China.

Japan had urged the United States in their talks to reduce its financial contribution to utility costs, as an increase in this area would not directly help strengthen US deterrence in the region, making it difficult to attract public support, they said the sources.

Japan had instead claimed the United States should use the increase in Tokyo’s contribution to fund expenses such as the maintenance of facilities shared by the Self-Defense Forces and the US military and their joint exercises, the sources said.

Cost-sharing agreements between Japan and the USA are usually concluded for a period of five years.

For fiscal year 2021, however, the two countries agreed on a one-year extension of a five-year pact that expired in March 2021, as their talks were affected by the change of power in Washington to President Joe Biden from his predecessor Donald Trump.

Following the December deal, Japan and the United States are likely to sign a special agreement next month to assist the host country when they hold a meeting with their defense and foreign ministers, the sources said.