Japan’s military looks to raise spending over the next five years in response to security challenges and to narrow Japan’s trade surplus with the US by buying equipment from there, the Nikkei business daily reported yesterday.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense looks to spend at least ¥27 trillion (US$239.5 billion) between April next year and March 2024, with the spending rising an average 1.1 percent per year, exceeding the 0.8 percent average during the five years ending March next year, the report said, without identifying its sources.
At present, payments on equipment and personnel expenses account for 80 percent of defense spending, Nikkei said.
Under the plan, funds for new equipment purchases would be separated from these expenses, making it easier to buy equipment from the US, it said.
Japan aims to have cabinet approval for the spending in mid-December, it said.
The ministry could not be immediately reached for comment.
Purchases of US-made equipment could help Tokyo ease trade friction with Washington, as US President Donald Trump pushes Japan to buy more US goods, including military gear, while threatening to impose tariffs on Japanese auto imports to cut a trade deficit with Tokyo.
The ministry in August sought record spending of ¥5.3 trillion next year to help pay for major upgrades to defenses designed to shoot down any North Korean ballistic missile, which Tokyo sees as a continued threat, despite Pyongyang’s promise to abandon nuclear weapons.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been reinforcing Japan’s military to respond to any North Korea missile strike and counter China’s growing air and sea power in the waters around Japan.
Japan remains wary of North Korean promises to abandon its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number