Nod for Japan’s biggest-ever defense budget
Print Edition
JAPAN approved its largest-ever defense budget for the next fiscal year yesterday as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe looks to strengthen surveillance of territorial waters in the face of a continuing spat with China.
For the year to March 2016, Tokyo will spend 4.98 trillion yen (US$41.97 billion), the government said, indicating a budget rise for the third straight year. “This is the largest budget ever,” said a defense ministry official, adding the highest allocation previously was 4.96 trillion yen earmarked in 2002.
The trend reflects Abe’s wish to build a more active military, a push supporters say is in response to the raising of tensions with China, with which Tokyo is at odds over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.
But detractors point to Abe’s desire to bolster the military more generally, and to shrug off the shackles of pacifism. Abe had wanted to alter the constitution to reduce restrictions on the armed forces, but was unable to muster sufficient public support, and moved instead to reinterpret the relevant clause to allow the military to come to the aid of an ally under attack.
Among items on the Japanese defense ministry’s shopping list are 20 “P-1” maritime patrol aircraft, with a combined price tag of 350 billion yen.
It will also buy five V-22 “Osprey” — crossover aircraft, which have the maneuverability of helicopters and the range of aeroplanes — along with six high-tech F-35A stealth fighters. The ministry is looking to obtain a fleet of “Global Hawk” drones over a five-year period, and part of the purchase will come out of this budget.
The defense ministry is also buying 30 units of amphibious vehicles and one E-2D airborne early-warning aircraft to be assigned to protect fringe areas.
The cash will also go towards the construction of one Aegis destroyer, and fund the deployment surveillance units around the southern islands of Okinawa and Amami.
The Abe cabinet decided in late 2013 to set aside roughly 24.7 trillion yen between 2014 and 2019 to spend on kit including drones, submarines, fighter jets and amphibious vehicles, in a strategic shift towards the south and west.
The defense expenditure makes up more than five percent of Japan’s general budget for the next fiscal year, which comes in at a record-high 96.34 trillion yen, up from 95.88 trillion yen the previous year.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
