Japan’s Defence Ministry on Tuesday asked for a 2.6% increase over the year’s record budget as it seeks to further strengthen the country’s military in the face of China’s growing dominance in the area.
The ministry’s budget sought 5.48 trillion yen (USD 49.86 billion) for the year starting April 1, 2022, which will be a record-high increase in defence budget if approved by the Finance Ministry and parliament later this year, after a 9-year consecutive increase.
Japan has been stepping up defence in the country’s southwestern regions and islands, including Ishigaki Island, where a new military base with a land-to-sea missile defence system will be started. Ishigaki is situated in the north of the uninhabited but Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which are also claimed by China.
Japan’s military expenditure and capabilities have grown persistently since former PM Shinzo Abe assumed charge in December 2012, rising by 17% over the past nine years. Expensive items in Japan’s latest budget request include 130 billion yen to procure a dozen more US-made F-35 stealth fighters from Lockheed Martin, including four F-35Bs.
The defence ministry is seeking nearly 105 billion yen for indigenous fighter jets the first in about 30 years since the Mitsubishi F-2 by around 2035, a multibillion-dollar project led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.