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Japan to Cut Financial Support for Japan-based US Military Facilities
Tokyo and Washington have reached a basic agreement on Japan's annual reduction of its host-nation support for the US military facilities in Japan by 2.5-3.0 billion yen (23-28 million US dollars) under a new five-year agreement starting next April, local media reported Tuesday.
The agreement was a compromise of the US in an attempt to avert public criticism over the financial burden of maintaining US facilities in Japan and to ease growing anti-US sentiment in Okinawa Prefecture, where US servicemen have recently been involved in a number of incidents, the report quoted government sources as saying.
The Japanese government currently pays roughly 180 billion yen (1.7 billion dollars) each year in support of the 47,000 US troops stationed in Japan under a 1987 agreement to help the US defray part of the military upkeep cost in Japan.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and US President Bill Clinton, who will meet in Tokyo on Thursday, are expected to seek a final accord when Japanese and US foreign and defense ministers hold a "two-plus-two" meeting in September, the sources said.
Mori and Clinton are scheduled to meet in Tokyo prior to the three-day summit of the Group of Eight (G-8) major nations, which opens Friday in Okinawa.
The US had objected to any reduction in the host-nation support, while pressure from lawmakers led Japan to call for streamlining and cost-cutting after the current accord expires on March 31.
The accord will affect the Special Measures Agreement, signed by Japan and the US in 1987, which stipulates that Japan cover all yen-based costs incurred by US forces in Japan for labor, utilities and training relocation.
The sources said the basic agreement will realize the cutback by implementing a reduction of up to 10 percent for the upper
limit on utility costs at US bases, with the US paying for all costs for off-base housing.
The host-nation support, dubbed "sympathy" budget in Japan, began in fiscal 1978 when the US economy was foundering and the cost of living in Japan skyrocketed amid the country's robust economic growth.
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