Kyodo News:

Japan’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday requested a 5.4 trillion yen ($49 billion) budget for fiscal 2022, aiming to accelerate enhancement of capabilities in new domains and promote the development of new technologies to deal with China’s growing military presence.

The request would exceed a record 5.3 trillion yen allocated in the initial budget for fiscal 2021 started in April, rising for the tenth consecutive year. It does not include outlays linked to hosting U.S. military bases, which have been about 200 billion yen annually.

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