Japan plans to spend 25.5 trillion yen ($224.7 billion) on military equipment over the next five years
Japan will accelerate spending on advanced stealth fighters, long-range missiles and other equipment over the next five years to support U. S. forces facing China’s military in the Western Pacific, two new government defense papers said.
The plans are the clearest indication yet of Japan’s ambition to become a regional power as a military build-up by China and a resurgent Russia puts pressure on its U. S. ally.
«The United States remains the world’s most powerful nation, but national rivalries are surfacing and we recognize the importance of the strategic competition with both China and Russia as they challenge the regional order,» said a 10-year defense program outline approved by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government on Tuesday.
The United States, followed by China, North Korea and Russia, are the countries that most influenced Japan’s latest military thinking, the paper said.
China, the world’s second biggest economy, is deploying more ships and aircraft to patrol waters near Japan, while North Korea has yet to fulfill a pledge to dismantle its nuclear and missile programs.
Russia, which continues to probe Japanese air defenses, said on Monday it had built new barracks for troops on a northern island it captured from Japan at the end of World War II.
