Another financial burden to be borne by Japan discovered over US military relocation to Guam

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Another financial burden to be borne by Japan discovered over US military relocation to Guam

The recent Japan-U.S. agreement on the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Okinawa shows another financial burden that Japan will shoulder for U.S. bases under the name of the so-called “sympathy budget.”

This was revealed by Japanese Communist Party representative Inoue Satoshi at the June 1 House of Councilors Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting.

The Japan-U.S. joint statement on the bilateral agreement states, “U.S.-Japanese collaboration on a ‘Green Alliance’ would consider ways to introduce renewable energy technology into U.S. bases in Japan and under development in Guam, including as a component of Host Nation Support.”

Asked by Inoue why Japan must shoulder the costs for U.S. environmental preservation measures, Foreign Minister Okada Katsuya answered that the government does not consider this expenditure as inappropriate under the current framework, which requires Japan to pay the costs for utilities on U.S. bases in Japan as well as part of the costs for relocating U.S. military functions from Okinawa to Guam.

“The U.S. government is responsible for its own environmental measures. Why does it use Japanese people’s tax money to implement such measures for its bases on its territory?” said Inoue, urging the government to cancel the payment in support of the construction of a new U.S. base in Guam.

- Akahata, June 2, 2010