Japan’s Defence Ministry is seeking a record-high 5.17 trillion yen ($51 billion) budget for the 2017 fiscal year to bolster missile defence capability amid an escalating North Korean threat and to better protect disputed islands also claimed by China in the East China Sea.
If approved by parliament, the budget request submitted Wednesday would be the fifth annual increase under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who ended a decade of defence budget cuts after taking office in late 2012. Military spending would rise 2.3 per cent for the fiscal year beginning April 1.
Japan is particularly concerned about North Korea’s recent nuclear and missile development, saying it has increased tensions on the Korean Peninsula and poses a threat to regional and global security.
The budget request includes:
— 105.6 billion yen ($1 billion) to upgrade a dozen of Japan’s PAC-3 surface-to-air missile defence systems to increase range and accuracy for deployment in 2020.
— 14.7 billion yen ($140 million) to acquire next-generation missile interceptors jointly developed by Japan and the U.S., and to upgrade the capabilities of the destroyers that would carry them.
— 76 billion yen ($735 million) to develop a new submarine with advanced surveillance capabilities in the face of growing Chinese activity in the East China Sea.
— 74.6 billion yen ($720 million) to station guard units on the southern islands of Miyakojima and Amami Oshima.
