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U.S. Navy servicemen see off the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington as it leaves the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, 60 kms south of Tokyo, for the last time for refueling and complex overhaul on May 18, 2015. Photo: TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images -
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Century Center in South Bend, Indiana, May 2, 2016. Photo: REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski
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Presumptive Republican Party nominee Donald
Trump’s statements expressing his foreign policy views are becoming more
specific, with his calls for American allies to shoulder a greater
financial cost to maintain military facilities, the Japan Times
reported. The New York businessman told CNN Wednesday that Japan should
greatly up its contributions to maintaining American military facilities
in Japan.
“Of course they should pick up all the expense. Why are we paying for this?” Trump said.
“A lot of people like to say, ‘Oh, Trump wants Japan to arm.’ I don’t
want them to arm. I want them to reimburse us for at least the cost.”
Japan has hosted American military facilities
under the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security since the
1950s. Revised in 1960, the treaty gives the U.S. the right to have
military bases in Japan in exchange for promising to defend the country
in the event of an attack. The treaty has been described as “one of the region's most important military relationships.”
Trump went on to describe Japan’s economy in
positive terms to further question why the U.S. shoulders military
costs. “We cannot go around subsidizing Japan, which is a behemoth
economically with the cars and everything,” he said.
Japan budgeted $1.7 billion to host American military bases in 2015, the Japan Times reported. There are 109 American bases across Japan with approximately 50,000 U.S. personnel.
Trump’s remarks come at a volatile time in the
region, with uncertainty over North Korea’s nuclear arms and growing
tensions over territorial claims in the South and East China Seas. Japan
and China both claim the islands in the East China Sea known as the
Senkaku Islands to the Japanese and the Daioyu Islands to the Chinese.
Trump said in March that Japan and South Korea
should become nuclear powers in order to protect themselves. His
remarks prompted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to respond, “Whoever
will become the next president of the United States, the Japan-U.S.
alliance is the cornerstone of Japan’s diplomacy.”
While Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said, “It is impossible that Japan will arm itself with nuclear weapons.”
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