Trump Demands Tokyo Quadruple Payments for US Troops in Japan
Empire still has 54,000 soldiers in Japan, wants $8bn a year for the privilege of having a staging ground to invade East Asia from
U.S. President Donald Trump has asked Japan to quadruple its payments for U.S. forces stationed there, Foreign Policy reported, citing unnamed current and former U.S. officials, as Washington presses long-standing allies to increase their defense spending.
Washington wants Tokyo to increase annual payments for the 54,000 U.S. troops in Japan to around $8 billion from about $2 billion, Foreign Policy said, citing three unnamed former defense officials. The current agreement expires in March 2021.
The demand was made to Japanese officials during a trip to the region in July by John Bolton, at that time Trump’s national security adviser, and Matt Pottinger, who was then the Asia director for the National Security Council, Foreign Policy said.
A spokesman for the Japanese foreign ministry said the report by the U.S. global affairs publication is incorrect and no U.S.-Japan negotiations on a new agreement have taken place.
Representatives of the U.S. government were not immediately available to comment outside of business hours.
Many U.S. allies are coming under pressure on defense spending from Washington.
Trump has also insisted Seoul shoulder more of the cost of the U.S. military presence in South Korea, where it serves as deterrence against North Korea, and has floated the idea of pulling U.S. troops from the peninsula, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Source: Reuters
[…] Trump Demands Tokyo Quadruple Payments for US Troops in Japan 1 har lest innlegget i dag. Innlegget er lest totalt 1 ganger. […]
“and has floated the idea of pulling U.S. troops from the peninsula”
isn’t that what the japanese have been asking for for years now?
reason enough not to give him 8B$, i would say.
Japan remains the symbol of American imperialism in Asia. More than any other Western power America has waged wars across Asia since world war 2. It is estimated that American wars killed around 20 million in 37 victim nations, the majority of them being Asian. They include the Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge which was a result of America’s role in the Vietnam war. The Khmer Rouge got representation in the UN due to President Carters insistence.
Across the Middle East America has spent over 6 Trillion dollars since 2000 to 2019. During that time over a million Iraqi men women and children starved to death under American sanctions. Yemen is currently experiencing mass starvation. The 20th century can be defined by Americas wars against Asia from East Asia, SE Asia to West Asia. America is no friend of Asia.
The average Japanese citizen would prefer the US military contingent leave and wouldn’t become maudlin if they did.
The political milieu is not immediate post-1945. If Russian, China, and North Korea show any wariness toward Japan, it’s entirely because it remains occupied by US troops and US-centric foreign policy.
A US dollar digital printing press means we (Japan) don’t owe you a dime. The US will “paper” over this manufactured squabble.
Actually, Japan should demand exactly the reverse.
You, Mr Trump, must pay us quadruple if we continue to let you keep troops in Japan.
There is a many years-long history of American troops assaulting women, raping women, brutalizing people, stealing, being vandals and being just plain careless, like the recent incidents of American bomb casings falling from the sky in a residential area.
Many Japanese – a country with extremely low crime rates and strong social pressures – would describe the American troops as thugs.
After all, America’s Army gets pretty desperate for recruits to fill all its imperial ranks. Standards only go ever lower in the effort.
And the American bases represent places Japanese people do not want to see occupied. And polluted. Heavily polluted.
Nothing is worse than the sum total of American military pollution at a long-term facility. Some of the most polluted sites on earth are left behind by America’s military in various places. They even do a poor job inside the United States.
Sludge and chemicals of every description. Old munitions and tires.Immense piles of trash. Sometimes even dumped vehicles and rusting drums of who-knows-what?
But the people are not really free to express that to Americans, and their current Prime Minister, Abe, is almost pitiful in his bowing and scraping to American interests.
It is quite shameful, even humiliating, for a country with such proud historical traditions.
It will be a fine day when they can eventually shake it off.
But America is heavily embedded there with corporate and government and military and financial interests and, I’m sure, plenty of bribery and pressure.
Fort Knox is empty, nothing but stale air in there. The “empire” is dying and its clothes are threadbare.The demise of the toilet paper dollar is happening and the bully is getting worried. It was always a common thief, amongst many other despicable qualities, but now its doing it blatantly in the open. It can’t afford its bases worldwide and wants the invaded colonies to pay for them now. What a fitting end to an infamous satanic psychopathic monster !