Tokyo, June 21 -- Tokyo cancelled "two-plus-two" security talks with the United States after Washington asked Japan to boost defence spending to 3.5 percent of the GDP, the Financial Times newspaper reported citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had planned to meet with their Japanese counterparts, Defence Minister Gen Nakatani and Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, on July 1 in Washington.
The Financial Times said on Friday that Tokyo scrapped the meeting after a demand was made in recent weeks by US Defence Department's official Elbridge Colby for Japan to increase defence spending to 3.5 percent of its GDP, instead of the 3 percent asked for earlier.
The n...