TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's annual budget for hosting U.S. military forces is likely to exceed 210 billion yen ($1.9 billion) from fiscal 2022, government sources said Tuesday.

       Tokyo and Washington are in the final stage of negotiations to set the amount of so-called host nation support for five years from the next fiscal year starting April.

       The administration of President Joe Biden has asked the Japanese government to shoulder more of the costs of stationing U.S. forces in the country to strengthen the countries' long-standing security alliance at a time of Chinese military expansion.

       The host nation support for the current fiscal year through March is 201.7 billion yen.

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