Japan ruling party seeks big defense budget rise amid China threat japantoday.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from japantoday.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
May 25, 2021
A joint defense panel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Monday approved a draft proposal for the government to “drastically” increase the country’s defense budget in the face of the increased security threat posed by China in the East and South China seas.
The move seeking a rise in the budget comes as neighboring countries including China are increasing their defense budgets and NATO has set a target for its members to spend at least 2% of gross domestic product on defense, according to the proposal.
Japan’s defense budget has long amounted to around 1% of the country’s GDP, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Its defense spending in fiscal 2020 totaled ¥5.31 trillion ($48.8 billion), accounting for 0.9% of the country’s GDP.
Japan ruling party seeks drastic defense budget rise amid China threat By Reito Kaneko, KYODO NEWS - 5 hours ago - 22:43 | All, Japan
A joint defense panel of Japan s ruling Liberal Democratic Party approved a draft proposal Monday for the government to drastically increase the country s defense budget in the face of the increased security threat posed by China in the East and South China seas.
The move seeking a rise in the budget comes as neighboring countries including China are increasing their defense budgets and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has set a target for its members to spend at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense, according to the proposal.
An Air Self-Defense Force F-15 fighter jet takes off during a training exercise. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Skyrocketing costs have forced the Defense Ministry to drastically revise its strategy to protect outlying islands against moves by China.
Ministry officials had initially hoped to retrofit F-15 fighter jets so that they could fire long-range cruise missiles to defend the Nansei island chain that stretches southwest from Okinawa Prefecture.
But expenses in the initial preparatory stage of design and constructing the facilities for the retrofitting have continued to climb, and ministry officials still have no idea what the ultimate total cost of the project might end up being.
17 February 2021
Author: Yuki Tatsumi, Stimson Center
Japan’s 2021 defence budget is set to be its largest ever, continuing a near decade-long trend set in motion by former prime minister Shinzo Abe. Under Abe’s watch, Japan has increased its defence budget every year since 2005. The uptick in spending has continued since Abe left office in September 2020 last December, the Ministry of Defense released its revised budget request for the 2021 fiscal year totalling approximately 5.3 trillion yen (US$50.2 billion).
This upward trend has at times been sensationalised as a return to militarism, with critics pointing to new capabilities introduced during Abe’s tenure. Recent examples include the indigenous development of long-range surface-to-air missiles and other ‘standoff capabilities’ to replace the cancelled Aegis Ashore missile defence program. The Aegis system will be replaced with destroyers and long-range cruise missiles based on the surface-to-air missiles already