Japan is to increase defense spending for a third straight year as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks to counter China’s claims to remote islands in the East China Sea.
The budget for the year starting April will be ￥4.98 trillion (US$42 billion), up from ￥4.84 trillion this fiscal year, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg.
Spending on defense is to account for about 5 percent of the national budget, which is set to be approved by the Cabinet today.
Photo: REUTERS
Japan’s defense spending is about one-third that of China’s, which boosted its military budget by more than 12 percent last year.
Ties have frayed over the sovereignty of the islets — known as the Diaoyutais (釣魚台) in Taiwan, which also claims them, the Diaoyu Archipelago (釣魚群島) in China and the Senkakus in Japan — though Chinese and Japanese officials resumed talks on Monday in Tokyo on a maritime communication mechanism to prevent accidental clashes at sea.
Ships and planes from the two nations have been tailing one another in the area since Japan bought three of the islands from a private owner in September 2012.
Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s top government spokesman, yesterday said that a certain degree of common understanding was achieved in the maritime talks.
Both sides “have reached a certain consensus” on the maritime communication mechanism and agreed to activate it “at an early date,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) said.
In August last year, Japan’s Ministry of Defense requested a record budget that included funds for 20 P-1 fixed-wing patrol aircraft, six F-35 fighter aircraft and an unspecified number of unmanned aircraft.
Japan will also allocate funds for establishing a military observation unit on Yonaguni island, close to the disputed islets.
Abe has reversed an 11-year decline in the defense budget, while in July last year his Cabinet reinterpreted the pacifist constitution to allow Japanese troops to defend other countries.
The Japanese parliament also passed a bill to increase penalties for leaking government secrets.
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