US, Japan hold strategic talks after new troop deal

By MATTHEW LEE and ROBERT BURNS
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top U.S. and Japanese officials are holding strategic and security talks just two weeks after negotiators ended a Trump-era row by agreeing in principle to a new formula for paying for the American military presence in Japan. Thursday’s meeting between the foreign and defense ministers comes as tensions are rising between both allies and China and in the aftermath of a worrisome new North Korean missile test. But a surge in coronavirus cases could also be an issue, with Japan asking the U.S. hours before the talks were to begin to lock down American military bases on its soil due to the spread of COVID-19.