As regional tensions and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine fuel war worries, Japan on Friday unveiled its largest military build-up since World War Two with a $320 billion plan that will buy missiles capable of striking China and prepare it for sustained battle.
According to current finances, the comprehensive five-year plan will make Japan the world’s third-largest military spender behind the United States and China.
The ramp-up, according to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, is “my response to the myriad security problems that we confront” and that Japan and its people are experiencing a “turning point in history.”
His government is concerned that Russia’s precedent-setting actions could inspire China to attack Taiwan, endanger the adjacent Japanese islands, block the flow of advanced semiconductors, and possibly close off sea routes that transport Middle Eastern oil.
“This is giving Japan a new direction. The Self-Defense Forces will be a real, effective force of the highest calibre if properly implemented, “Yoji Koda, a former admiral of the Maritime Self Defense Force who oversaw the Japanese fleet in 2008, said.
The government also announced plans to increase transportation capacity, store spare parts and other armaments, and enhance cyberwarfare capabilities. Japan handed up the ability to wage war and the means to do so in its post-war constitution, which was written by Americans.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a serious violation of laws that forbid the use of force and has shaken the foundations of the international order,” the strategy paper said.
“The strategic challenge posed by China is the biggest Japan has ever faced,” it added, also noting that Beijing had not ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control.
A different national security plan statement pledged tight cooperation with the US and other like-minded countries to thwart threats to the existing international order and singled out China, Russia, and North Korea.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel stated in a statement that “the Prime Minister is making a clear, unequivocal strategic statement about Japan’s role as a security supplier in the Indo-Pacific.”
He said, “He has put a capital “D” next to Japan’s deterrence.”
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen expressed her expectations for further defence collaboration with Japan when she met with Chairman of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Mitsuo Ohashi on Friday in Taipei.”We look forward to Taiwan and Japan continuing to create new cooperation achievements in various fields such as national defence and security, the economy, trade, and industrial transformation,” the presidential office cited Tsai as saying.
According to a statement from its embassy in Japan, China accused Japan of making untrue assertions over China’s military actions in the new security plan.
UKRAINE LESSON
Toshimichi Nagaiwa, a retired Air Self-Defense Force general, said, “The Ukraine war has showed us the necessity of being able to prolong a fight, and that is something Japan has not so far been prepared for.”
Japan is starting slowly; we are 200 metres behind in a 400-meter dash, he continued.
At the turn of the century, China’s military budget surpassed Japan’s and is now more than four times bigger.
According to military sources who spoke to the media, Japan’s most pressing issues include a scarcity of munitions and spare parts that render planes inoperable and other military equipment inoperable.
With Kishida’s plan, defence spending will more than quadruple to 2% of GDP over five years, exceeding a self-imposed budget cap of 1% that has been in place since 1976.
Based on existing budgets, it will make Japan the world’s third-largest military spender behind the United States and China and expand the defence ministry’s budget to around a tenth of total public spending.
This spending spree would provide Japanese manufacturers of military hardware like Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) (7011.T) jobs. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is anticipated to be in charge of developing three of the longer-range missiles that will be a member of Japan’s new missile force.
In a cooperative initiative launched last week by Japan, Britain, and Italy, MHI will also work with BAE Systems PLC (BAES.L) and Leonardo SPA (LDOF.MI) to construct Japan’s upcoming jet fighter.
Tokyo allocated $5.6 billion for that in the five-year defence programme.
Foreign companies will also benefit. Japan says it wants ship-launched U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles made by Raytheon Technologies (RTX.N) to be part of its new deterrent force.
Over the following five years, Japan will also purchase Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters, helicopters, submarines, battleships, heavy-lift transport jets, attack and reconnaissance drones, interceptor missiles for ballistic missile defence, and satellite communications equipment.
Kishida’s ruling coalition earlier on Friday announced it will increase tobacco, corporation, and income taxes for disaster-reconstruction in order to pay for such equipment.
But the Japanese leader has yet to announce when he will put those higher rates into effect because resistance to tax increases is still strong inside his ruling Liberal Democratic party.
