The Japanese Cabinet yesterday approved a record-high military spending plan, endorsing plans to purchase pricey US surveillance drones and F-35 jets as Tokyo steps up cooperation with Washington amid China’s increasingly assertive activity in regional seas.
The ￥5.1 trillion (US$42.1 billion) proposal is part of a ￥96.7 trillion national budget for the fiscal year beginning in April, also an all-time high. The entire package requires Japanese parliamentary approval.
Military spending would rise 1.5 percent from this year, the fourth annual increase under Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who ended a decade of defense budget cuts.
Photo: AP
The defense budget is the first since Japan enacted new security legislation in September enhancing the nation’s military role and since Japan revised its bilateral defense guidelines with the US earlier in the year to allow broader cooperation between the allies.
The new security law divided Japanese public opinion, with opponents saying it would increase a possibility of Japan being embroiled in a US-led war.
Japan is bolstering surveillance and defense of its southern islands, where it has a territorial dispute with China.
The budget also includes the purchase of an advanced Aegis radar-equipped destroyer with missile-defense capability, submarine construction and sonar development.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense plans to spend ￥14.8 billion this year on some of the multibillion-dollar, multi-year purchase of three “Global Hawk” unmanned drones, as well as six F-35 jets for ￥138 billion and a Boeing mid-air refueling aircraft KC-46A at ￥23 billion.
“We believe the budget includes items that would contribute to enhancing Japan-US cooperation in the area of ISR,” Japanese Ministry of Defense official Tomoki Matsuo said, referring to information, surveillance and reconnaissance.
Japan pays ￥193 billion for about 50,000 US troops stationed in Japan under their bilateral security treaty, more than half of them on Okinawa — a major source of friction between the central government and the southern island, which is frustrated with the decades-long burden.
The cost to move some of them to Guam and a contentious plan to move the US Marine air base from the crowded Futenma area to a less-populated location on Okinawa was also added to the budget.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
The nation’s usually punctual high-speed rail system yesterday was hit by major disruptions after all scheduled services were canceled and replaced with three hourly trains offering only non-reserved seating, affecting more than 200,000 passengers. Preliminary findings indicate the disruption was caused by a faulty power module in a track switch control cabinet, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) said, adding that as a full system inspection could only be conducted after operations end for the day, a decision on whether normal service would resume today would be announced before the first train departs. During a routine inspection early yesterday, a switch signal abnormality
RSS