"The draft defence budget for the next fiscal year approved on Friday is more than 9tn ($58bn) and 9.4% bigger than the previous budget, which will end in April. The increase comes in the fourth year of Japan's five-year program to double its annual arms spending to 2% of GDP. The budget plan focuses on fortifying strike-back capability and coastal defences with surface-to-ship missiles and unmanned arsenals."
"Beijing has consistently objected to Japan's strengthening defensiveness, but relations imploded last month when Japan's prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, said Japan would probably become militarily involved if China attacked Taiwan as part of Beijing's plans to annex the territory. Takaichi's remarks sparked a furious reaction from Beijing, which launched a range of diplomatic and economic retaliatory moves. Takaichi refused to withdraw her comments, and the government has maintained they represented no change to Japan's defence policies."
Japan's cabinet approved a draft defence budget exceeding ¥9tn ($58bn), a 9.4% increase from the previous year and the fourth year of a five-year plan to double arms spending to 2% of GDP. The plan prioritizes strike-back capability and coastal defences, funding surface-to-ship missiles and unmanned arsenals. The government will allocate ¥100bn to deploy large unmanned air, sea-surface and underwater drones for surveillance and defence under a Shield system planned for March 2028. Tensions with China have escalated after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Japan might become militarily involved if China attacked Taiwan. China has criticised Japan's space technology developments, some in cooperation with the US, as accelerating the weaponisation and militarisation of space and fuelling a space arms race, while Tokyo has launched multiple rockets since March 2023 carrying cargo spacecraft and satellites for GPS and intelligence gathering.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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