Japan rearms itself with record military spending due to tensions with China, North Korea and the Russia-Ukraine war

Japan has presented a draft defense budget for next year with a record level of spending and the acquisition of new defensive and offensive capabilities, in response to the arms developments of China and North Korea and the war in Ukraine.

The budget requested by the Ministry of Defense for the year 2023 amounts to 5.59 billion yen (39.71 billion euros), 7.5% more than the previous year, and includes a permanent entry for the development of military capabilities in the next five years which will increase the final figure.

The document contemplates the acquisition of weapons that until now Japan did not even have, such as combat drones or hypersonic missiles and long-range, with which the country aspires to increase its ability to carry out counterattacks in the event of a conflict.

The justification for what will be the largest military spending to date is the growing challenge surrounding Japan, including the Defense highlights the Russian invasion of Ukraine, China’s “continued attempts to change the status quo” in the region or the intensification of provocations from North Korea, according to the document.

disputes

Russian aggression “shakes the international order”, while Beijing “has deepened its collaboration with Moscow”, in addition to intensifying its military maneuvers near Taiwan and “apparently not abandoning the possibility of resorting to force” to unify this island with the rest of its territory, warns the ministry .

Japan maintains territorial disputes with China and Russia for the sovereignty of several islands located respectively to the south-west and north of the Japanese archipelago, around which Tokyo denounced the increase in military exercises in both Beijing and Moscow and, in some cases, the joint exercises of both countries .

“It cannot be excluded that a situation similar to that which is happening in Europe will occur in the Indo-Pacific”, underlines the document, which also highlights “The increasingly complex security environmentaround the Japanese archipelago.

Against this backdrop, Japan plans to acquire for the first time US long-range cruise missiles JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-off Missile), capable of hitting targets about 1,000 kilometers away, in addition to domestic and large-scale production of other land-to-ground and even naval models.

Counterattack

The budget includes research and development of hypersonic missiles, a project whose cost is not detailed and with which Japan would aspire to thwart the tests and deployments of this type of weapons by China, North Korea and Russia.

Also the acquisition of new PAC and Aegis anti-missile shields is planned and naval radars to improve the ability to intercept next-generation projectiles, as well as purchase unmanned combat aircraft (Japan currently only has surveillance drones), which can be used in conflicts while minimizing human casualties, according to the document.

All these new pieces of military equipment could be part of the “counterattack ability”that is, the power to strike enemy bases and control centers in the event of an offensive, and which the Government intends to include in its new National Security Strategy.

The executive headed by Fumio Kishida plans to adopt this new valid strategy towards the end of this year for the next five yearsand in which the above concept of counterattack would be inserted for the first time, which has generated controversy in Japan due to the fact that, according to its interpretation, pre-emptive attacks could be carried out.

The draft defense budget will now be reviewed by the Japanese government, which plans to approve it in the national parliament towards the beginning of the year ahead of its entry into force in March 2023, when the new fiscal year begins.

required amount it is less than 1% of Japan’s gross domestic producteven if expenses whose cost has not been estimated, such as the development of hypersonic missiles, could trigger the final amount and bring it closer to 2% of the national economy, the level of military spending of NATO countries.

EFE agency

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