US and Japan make troop cost deal
Japan and the United States have resolved a dispute over the costs of relocating 8,000 US marines from Okinawa to the Pacific island of Guam.Tokyo had objected to US calls for it to pay 75% of the estimated $10bn cost.
But after talks on Sunday, a compromise deal was reached under which Tokyo will contribute $6.1bn towards the cost of relocation.
The dispute has held up agreement on overall realignment plans for the US military presence in Japan.
Further talks
Tokyo and Washington agreed last year the broad framework of a plan to reduce the number of troops on Okinawa, where most of the American forces are based.
It included the proposal to redeploy the 8,000 marines to Guam but Japan felt their contribution to the costs should be smaller.
After several rounds of negotiations over the last few weeks, Japan agreed to pay 59% of the costs in grants, loans and investments.
sources: BBC NEWS
RedSpider
posted by LazyNinja at 1:32 PM
1 Comments:
To fully understand this whole saga, one must knows the reality in japanese daily lives. Since Japan lost WWII, the USA has deployed their troops on various locations in Japan.
At first the troops presence's aim was to check Japan for not going military again. Japanese army was dissolved and a law were voted to forbid Japan from building an army forever.
Since this law was against Japanese will, the USA had the duty to protect Japan from North Korea, South Korea and China.
The situation has been stable for six decades now, and the american military presence had become a burden to the japanese society.
Japanese teenagers are often raped by US marines and all the crimes went unpunished due to the extra priviledge those marines have.
This has created a bitterness in the japanese society which is pressing their government to do something about it.
Red Spider
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