Ranking Member Risch: Biden Administration Must Seek Burden-Sharing Increases from Japan

BOISE, Idaho – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement on the announcement that the United States and Japan have extended by one year the current cost-sharing arrangement to host U.S. troops on Japanese soil:

“The U.S.-Japan alliance is one of the most important U.S. political, economic, and military alliances in the world. Equitable, fair, and mutually-beneficial burden sharing arrangements are key to strong, healthy, and politically sustainable alliances. The Biden Administration must seek substantial but reasonable increases in contributions from Japan in its negotiations on a longer-term burden sharing agreement, and also use this as an opportunity to identify ways to strengthen combined U.S.-Japan security posture in the Indo-Pacific region. Japan has been at the forefront of advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific region. I encourage further movement in that direction, including through greater increases in its defense spending. The security challenges to the region only continue to grow, and we must both increase our efforts to ensure the alliance is postured to deal with these challenges effectively.”

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