TOKYO: The United States has not asked Tokyo to pay more to keep its troops in the country, Japan's defence minister said, after a report cited former National Security Adviser John Bolton as saying he conveyed President Donald Trump's demand for an US$8 billion annual payment.
"Negotiations over the cost of hosting (American troops) have not started yet," Defence Minister Taro Kono told a regular news conference on Tuesday (Jun 23). "The Japanese government has not received any request from the United States with regard to this issue."
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The current agreement that covers the 54,000 US troops stationed in Japan expires in March 2021.
READ: Japan 'can't move ahead' with US missile defence system: PM
Kono was asked about a Kyodo News report citing Bolton's upcoming book The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, in which he writes that he relayed Trump's request to a senior Japanese government official for the US$8 billion payment during a trip to Japan last July. The memoir is due for publication on Tuesday.
Asked whether he thought the current cost of hosting the US military was appropriate, Kono said: "The Japan-US alliance is a public asset that contributes to this region's peace and stability. An arrangement that is lucrative for one side won't last long."
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