Japan’s record-setting draft budget reflects the Defense Ministry’s assessment of a worsening security landscape.
Japan’s government has approved a record ¥115.5 trillion ($730 billion) budget for the upcoming fiscal year, featuring a significant increase in defense spending. This represents a 2.6% rise compared to the current fiscal year’s budget, as announced by the Finance Ministry on Friday.
Defense spending constitutes 7.5% of the total budget, approximately $55 billion. This marks the thirteenth consecutive year of increased defense spending, a 0.5% rise from the previous year, according to Kyodo News. The budget allocates funds for mass production of long-range, standoff missiles.
As a NATO partner in the Indo-Pacific, Japan plans to raise its defense budget to 2% of its GDP by fiscal year 2027, aligning with US-led military alliance targets. Based on Japan’s 2023 GDP of $4.213 trillion, this equates to over $84 billion in military expenditure.
The Defense Ministry stated on Friday that Japan and the US face an increasingly challenging strategic and nuclear threat environment.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who assumed office in October and previously served as defense minister, has been a long-time proponent of an Asian NATO to counter threats from China and North Korea. Japan and the US are enhancing defense collaboration in response to these perceived threats.
Last month, Kyodo News reported that Tokyo and Washington are developing a joint contingency plan for a potential Taiwan-China conflict. This plan reportedly includes the establishment of temporary US military bases along Japan’s southwestern Nansei Islands to deploy missile units.
Russia, sharing a maritime border with Japan, has warned that deploying US missiles in Japan would jeopardize its security and provoke retaliation.