Japan to Pay U.S. $5.7 Billion Today for Gulf Cost

Japan will make a $5.7 billion contribution to the U.S. Treasury today to help defray U.S. costs for Operation Desert Storm, American and Japanese officials said Thursday.

The announcement, shortly after Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama opened official talks here, was one of several indications that the two countries are determined to overcome strains in relations.

During a half-hour meeting with Nakayama, President Bush thanked him for Japan’s contributions.

Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Taizo Watanabe said Bush acknowledged that there was some “frustration” in the United States with Japan but said that resulted mostly from disputes over trade and not the widely reported differences over the Persian Gulf.

The talks also included a U.S.-Japanese summit. Nakayama reportedly told Japanese reporters that Bush and Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu will meet April 4 in California.

Earlier in the day, Secretary of State James A. Baker III, posing for pictures with Nakayama at the State Department, brushed aside suggestions of a rift.

The relationship between the two nations, Baker said, “has been extraordinarily good for many, many years, and we want to see it continue that way.”

In another friendly gesture, Baker presented a certificate of appreciation to Akio Shirota, a Japanese diplomat who sheltered 16 American Embassy officials and their dependents in his Kuwait city residence shortly after the Iraqi invasion.

After a working luncheon at the State Department, Nakayama said a recent increase in Japanese support for U.S. forces based in Japan “is one example of what we have done and we can do and will do for the benefit of our bilateral relations.” Japan raised its contribution from $60,000 per soldier to $100,000, Nakayama said.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said that the $5.7 billion promised for today was the first installment and that another $3.3 billion would be delivered “relatively soon.”

Watanabe said that Japan’s full $9-billion contribution already has been disbursed to the international consortium that administers foreign contributions for transfer to the respective recipients.