Japan Approves Record Defense Budget amid Escalating China Tensions

By Staff, Agencies

Japan’s cabinet has approved a record high defense budget as tensions with China continue to spiral, with Beijing this week accusing Tokyo of “fueling a space arms race”.

The draft defense budget for the next fiscal year – approved on Friday – is more than ¥9tn [$58bn] and 9.4% bigger than the previous budget, which will end in April. The increase comes in the fourth year of Japan’s five-year program to double its annual arms spending to 2% of GDP.

The budget plan focuses on fortifying strike-back capability and coastal defenses with surface-to-ship missiles and unmanned arsenals. To defend the coasts, Japan will spend ¥100bn yen to deploy “massive” unmanned air, sea-surface and underwater drones for surveillance and defense under a system called “Shield” planned for March 2028, defense ministry officials said.

Japan's prime minister Sanae Takaichi during the opening plenary session at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa

The budget boost comes amid escalating hostilities between the Chinese and Japanese governments. Beijing has consistently objected to Japan’s strengthening defensiveness, but relations imploded last month when Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, said Japan would probably become militarily involved if China attacked Taiwan as part of Beijing’s plans to annex the territory.

Takaichi’s remarks sparked a furious reaction from Beijing, which launched a range of diplomatic and economic retaliatory moves. Takaichi refused to withdraw her comments, and the government has maintained they represented no change to Japan’s defense policies.

On Thursday China’s defense ministry told a regular press briefing that Japan’s recent space technology developments – some of which are in cooperation with the US – were “accelerating the weaponization and militarization of space, and fueling a space arms race”.

Tokyo has launched several rockets since March 2023, carrying cargo spacecraft and satellites for GPS systems and intelligence gathering, according to Japanese media.

“Given that Japan’s vicious militarists once launched sneak attacks and that the country is now taking an offensive space policy, it is hardly surprising that there are growing concerns of another Pearl Harbor scenario,” defense ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said on Sunday.

Japan’s postwar constitution forbids it from using force as a means of settling international disputes but a 2015 amendment – passed when Takaichi’s mentor, Shinzo Abe, was prime minister – permits it to exercise collective self-defense in certain situations, even if it is not directly under attack.

Japan’s current security strategy identifies China as the country’s biggest strategic challenge and calls for a more assertive role in its security cooperations with the US.

On Thursday, China’s defense ministry also blasted the US over its continued support for Taiwan, a week after it approved a massive US arms sale to Taipei of more than $10bn. The US doesn’t recognize Taiwan diplomatically but is Taiwan’s most significant supporter.