Japan’s government is likely to increase defense spending for the first time in 11 years, Japanese media reported yesterday, as newly elected Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledges a sterner response to a territorial dispute over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) with China.
The government is considering increasing defense spending by about 2 percent to more than ￥4.7 trillion (US$53.4 billion) in the fiscal year starting in April, the Mainichi newspaper reported. It gave no source for its information.
The extra spending would be used to increase personnel in the ground self-defense forces and upgrade equipment for land, air and maritime forces, the Asahi newspaper also reported yesterday. It also did not cite any sources.
Japan scrambled fighter jets yesterday to head off a Chinese state-owned plane that flew near the islands, called the Senkakus in Japan and also claimed by Taiwan, a Japanese Ministry of Defense spokesman said.
The Japanese jets were mobilized after a Chinese maritime aircraft ventured about 120km north of the islands at about 12pm, the spokesman said.
The Chinese Y-12 twin-turboprop later left the zone without entering Japanese airspace over the islands, he added.
It was the first time Japanese fighter jets had been scrambled this year to counter Chinese aircraft approaching the islands, the spokesman said.
Japan dispatched fighter jets last month after a Chinese state-owned plane breached airspace over the islands, while Chinese government ships have moved in and out of waters there for the past few months.
The confrontations have become commonplace since Japan nationalized the East China Sea islands in September. The Japanese government administers the islands, and purchased three of them from a private owner then, sparking violent anti-Japanese protests across China.
There is a renewed focus on whether relations between China and Japan will improve after voters swept Abe’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party back into power last month after three years in opposition.
Abe has repeatedly said there is no room for negotiation on the islands and has said he would boost defense spending to counter China’s growing military clout.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
RSS