By Ankit Panda
Shinzo Abe’s cabinet has approved a $42 billion defense budget, the largest ever in the country’s history.
Japan’s cabinet has approved a 4.98 trillion yen (approximately $42 billion) defense budget, the largest absolute sum allocated for defense in the country’s history. The defense budget marks the third straight year of increased defense spending and represents a 2.8 percent rise over Japan’s previous fiscal year. The change is consistent with other decisions regarding Japan’s defense made under the leadership of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Amid perceptions of an increasingly unstable East Asian region, with growing threats from a rising China and an unpredictable North Korea, Abe is eager to position Japan to practice what he describes as “proactive pacifism.”
In announcing the new defense budget, Japan’s new defense minister, Gen Nakatani, noted that the budget was necessary given the “changing situation” around Japan. ”The level of defense spending reflects the amount necessary to protect Japan’s air, sea, and land, and guard the lives and property of our citizens,” he added. Nakatani additionally accused China of engaging in “dangerous actions” that destabilized the regional situation. Beijing, in a statement released on Tuesday, noted that it “firmly opposed” the Japanese minister’s comments. Nakatani responded to China’s reaction later on Tuesday noting that this comments were based on actions by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army over the past few years, including radar locking onto a Japanese Self-Defense Forces ship and conducting dangerously close fly-bys of Japanese and other aircraft. He also noted China’s fast-growing defense budget, which rose 12.2 percent to $132 billion last year.
Read the full story at The Diplomat