According to the relevant agreements between Japan and the United States, for a long time, the Japanese government has borne various maintenance costs of the U.S. military base in Japan, including the construction and maintenance of commercial entertainment and other living facilities (such as luxury houses and swimming pools) in the base. Recently, there has been a lot of news about the US side's intention to significantly increase the defense expenditure of the US military stationed in Japan, which has also triggered a heated discussion in Japan's domestic public opinion.
In November this year, the US Foreign Policy magazine reported with a number of US government officials as sources that John & middot, then assistant to the US president for national security affairs; When Bolton visited Japan in July, he asked Japan to quadruple its military spending to $8 billion (56 billion yuan).
According to a report by the Japan Broadcasting Association (NHK) on the 4th, US President trump also said during his NATO summit in London on the 3rd that he had made a request to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, hoping that Japan would increase the proportion of defense expenses borne by US troops stationed in Japan. The Japanese government responded to this on the 4th, saying that it had a "reasonable distribution" with the United States in the defense expenditure of the US military stationed in Japan.
According to a report on the website of the well-known Japanese weekly "women themselves" on the 6th, the incident triggered an uproar in Japanese public opinion. For the financial support provided to the U.S. military in Japan, there is a special term in Japan called 'considerate budget'. Former Bo Bosheng, a professor at Okinawa International University in Japan who specializes in this issue, said: "although the Japanese government denies & lsquo; There is no such fact & rsquo;, But it is still very possible. If asked, Japan has to do it '.
Former Bo Bosheng pointed out that the above situation was also determined by the Japan US status agreement concluded after World War II: "in the agreement, Japan did not enjoy the treatment of a sovereign state, and the U.S. military stationed in Japan did not abide by the obligations of Japan's domestic laws. Even in Japan's capital circle, the U.S. military can use Osprey aircraft and fighter planes to fly at low altitude at will without abiding by Japan's aviation laws.".
He pointed out, "it goes without saying that the Japanese police have fallen into schools and homes in the past few times. Even cabinet ministers can't enter the scene without the permission of the US military. Moreover, even if American soldiers have accidents or other events, if they happen on official business, the Japanese side can't make a ruling."
If the 'considerate budget' also increases significantly, how will it be used? Former Bo Bosheng believes that more than 70 years after the war, many U.S. military facilities in Japan have also aged, so it takes a lot of money to repair and maintain. It should be mainly used in these aspects.
It is understood that at present, about 54000 US soldiers are stationed in Japan. According to the 2019 fiscal budget of the Japanese government, Japan bears about 19.4 billion yen (about 12.7 billion yuan) for the cost of U.S. troops stationed in Japan. A report released by the US Department of defense in 2004 shows that 74.5% of the expenses of US troops stationed in Japan in 2002 were borne by the Japanese government, which is much higher than that of other countries. After 2004, the United States did not publish the assessment rates of countries.
The cost sharing agreement signed by Japan and the United States in 2016 will expire in 2021. To this end, the two countries will hold consultations on this issue in 2020. Source: overseas network