OREANDA-NEWS. Washington may withdraw from the Treaty on Mutual Cooperation and Security Assurance between the United States and Japan. According to media reports, now the American leader Donald Trump is discussing this idea with his entourage. So far, no steps have been taken, but Trump is going to raise this issue at a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the G20 summit.

US President Donald Trump privately talks about the possibility of Washington withdrawing from the US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Guarantees, signed almost 60 years ago, Bloomberg reported, citing three sources. According to the interlocutors of the publication, the American leader noted that this treaty provides for the assistance of the United States of Japan only in the event of an armed attack on her, but doesn't oblige Tokyo to intercede for Washington.

According to journalists, such an outcome could lead to a new arms race, since Tokyo will have to look for other ways to ensure its own security against threats from China and the DPRK. The publication noted that Trump is also not satisfied with the attempts of the Japanese side to redeploy the American Marine Base Futemma from one area of ​​the southern Japanese prefecture of Okinawa to another. The head of state privately equates this with the seizure of land. For this reason, he spoke in favor of receiving compensation from Tokyo for these actions.

According to the results of the referendum, which was held in late February, more than 70% of the population of Okinawa voted against the transfer of the Futemma base to Nago. But the popular vote had no influence on the decision of the central government. Abe said that he had taken into account his results, but he stressed that it wasn't possible to postpone the transfer of the US air base.