Japan moved ahead with an expansion of support for US troops as the allies held top-level talks on Friday over tensions with China and North Korea.
The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Friday that the two nations were signing a five-year extension of the support package provided by Japan for the hosting of around 50,000 US troops on its soil.
A new agreement will invest greater resources to deepen our military readiness and interoperability Blinken said at the opening of four-way virtual talks between the allies' foreign and defence chiefs.
In Washington, Blinken said that our allies must not only strengthen the tools we have but also develop new ones.
Tokyo pays for the costs of the US forces in the country as well as utilities. The previous agreement was due to expire in March 2021, but was extended for a year due to a change of administration in Washington.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who was speaking from isolation after a mild case of Covid-19, said the allies were changing their roles and missions to reflect Japan's growing ability to contribute to peace and stability. Japan renounced its right to wage war after World War II and has since developed a close alliance with Washington, which is bound to defend the world's third-largest economy.
The foreign ministry said the new five-year package will amount to 211 billion yen $1.8 billion per fiscal year, an increase of about five percent.
The package comes amid rising tensions with China, which has stepped up incursions near Taiwan, a self-ruling democracy that enjoys close ties with Washington and Tokyo, but Beijing considers it a province waiting for reunification.
Beijing's provocative actions keep raising tensions across the Taiwan Strait and the East and South China SeaChina Sea, Blinken said.
He described North Korea's missile programmes as an ongoing threat after Pyongyang fired a suspected ballistic missile into the sea.
After the talks, a joint statement took aim at the attempts by China to undermine the rules-based order with specific reference to activity in the East and South China SeasChina Seas.
The allies also expressed serious and ongoing concerns about rights violations in China's Xinjiang region and Hong Kong and called for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
On Friday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin expressed Beijing's discontent and firm opposition to the US, Japan and Australia crudely interfering in China's internal affairs. US, Japan and Australia talk about freedom, openness and tolerance but in reality they are ganging up to form small cliques targeting other countries, showing off their military strength and carrying out military intimidation, according to a regular briefing.
On Thursday, Japan and Australia signed a landmark treaty to strengthen defence ties.
Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters on Friday that he had raised the issue of Covid clusters on US bases, which are believed to have spilt into local communities in several areas.
Japan's government approved new virus restrictions in three regions that host US bases or are near them, and Hayashi said that he had urged the US side to strengthen anti-infection measures, including efforts like introducing limits on off-base outings.