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Japan agrees to pay more for hosting US troops — Analysis

Tokyo will be paying 211 billion dollars ($1.86 billion) annually to host over 50,000 US soldiers in Japan beginning next April. This increase is about 10 billion more per year than the agreement previously made with Washington.

Japan would pay the US 1.05 trillion yen, or roughly $9.3 billion over five years. Japanese media reported. reportedOn Tuesday. Official signing of the agreement by both the defense and foreign ministers will take place in January in the USA.

Japanese news agency Kyodo said the agreement came in response to the Biden administration’s request for an increase in “host nation support”Due to the US force’s need, payments are required “deal with China.”


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While the agreement does increase the payments by roughly 5%, that’s a far cry from the proposals floated in 2019 by the Trump administration, which reportedly went as high as 150%.

The current fiscal year budget for troop support is 201.7 billion yen, under an interim agreement Japan and the US reached in February, after Joe Biden was sworn in as Trump’s replacement.

Tokyo will also pay less for utility costs, and part of the increase will go towards maintenance of facilities jointly used by the US military and Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, as well as joint exercises, Japanese government sources told the daily Mainichi Shimbun.

Nearly half of US troops overseas are stationed in Japan and South Korea, where there are an estimated 54,000 to 26,000 personnel.



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