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Japan’s Self-Defence Force’s honour guard members stand outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo. Photo: Reuters

Japan’s ruling party pushes to double defence budget, amid concerns over China, Russia, North Korea

  • Liberal Democratic Party wants to ‘drastically strengthen Japan’s defence capabilities’ in stark contrast to country’s traditional pacifist stance
  • Prime Minister Fumio Kishida would need to increase budget to almost US$86 billion annually to meet the party’s demands
Japan

Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party on Wednesday asked Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to consider doubling the country’s defence budget to an amount on par with 2 per cent or more of its gross domestic product, citing the region’s increasingly complex and severe security environment.

A set of proposals finalised by the ruling party last week, calling also for the development of counterstroke abilities by the Self-Defence Forces, will serve as a basis for the government to update the National Security Strategy by the end of the year.

The LDP’s push to allow Japan to fire upon and disable enemy missiles before launch from foreign territory and target command centres remains controversial given the country has long held an exclusively self-defence-oriented security policy position under its war-renouncing Constitution.

The first revision of the long-term security guideline, which was originally approved by the Cabinet in late 2013, will come amid China’s growing military assertiveness in the region, possibly emboldened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and North Korea’s increasing missile and nuclear threat.

Concerns over China and North Korea prompt Japanese shift on defence

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues. In a situation that can be said to be the greatest (current) crisis for the international community, we must drastically strengthen Japan’s defence capabilities,” Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi said upon receiving the proposals earlier in the day.

With the defence spending target of more than 2 per cent of GDP for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation nations in mind, the ruling party, led by Kishida, has said Japan should aim to increase its spending to reach a level “necessary to fundamentally reinforce defence capabilities in five years.”

To meet the target, Japan, which has long capped its defence budget at around 1 per cent of GDP, needs to secure almost 11 trillion yen (US$86 billion) annually to be spent on national security, twice as much as a record 5.4 trillion yen set aside for the current financial year to March 2023 on an initial budget basis.

Some senior LDP lawmakers have, however, suggested that the 2 per cent target should be treated as an “indicator,” rather than an ultimate goal, with Toshimitsu Motegi, secretary general of the party, saying Tuesday that Japan should secure a defence budget of roughly 6.5 trillion yen for the next financial year.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida being pushed to double country’s defence budget. Photo: Kyodo

In the recommendations submitted to the government, the LDP also called for the relaxation of restrictions on arms exports.

Regarding the proposal to obtain counter-attack capabilities, the LDP moved away from using “enemy base strike capabilities” in its wording.

The switch from that expression was decided in response to public concern that Japan could be seen as departing from its defence-oriented security policy in pursuit of the ability to make a pre-emptive strike.

The changed wording is also part of the LDP’s efforts to appease its junior coalition partner Komeito, which has been anxious about any possible misunderstanding, and cautious of acquiring counterstroke capabilities with a House of Councillors election this summer.

Despite the submission of the proposals to the government, the two parties is likely to not undertake intensive discussions on how to amend Japan’s security strategy until the upper house election has passed.

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