Japan announces provision of $320 billion for defence preparedness agai

Tokyo: Considering the growing threat in the Pacific region due to the increasing possibility of a Chinese attack on Taiwan and North Korean missile tests, Japan has announced a substantial increase in its defence spending. On Friday, Japan announced the new national security policy. It highlighted the need for an unprecedented increase in defence spending by saying that China is the biggest threat to Japanese security. According to the new policy, Japan will spend a whopping $320 billion on its defence preparedness over the next five years. This marks the largest increase in Japan’s defence spending since World War II. The United States has welcomed the new Japanese policy and China has criticized Japan is increasing regional tensions.

On Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Japan’s new ‘National Security Strategy’. It also mentioned the Russia-Ukraine conflict and argued that it demonstrated the importance of weapons readiness for a long-term conflict. At the same time, the possibility of increased aggression in a country like China has also been predicted, given this conflict. It is warned in the new policy that if China attacks Taiwan, the security of the Japanese islands may also be threatened and the Japanese economy will also be affected. The ‘National Security Strategy’ pointed out that the continuous missile tests by North Korea have added to Japanese worries. Against this backdrop, Japan aims to raise its defence spending to two per cent of total GDP in the next five years, the Japanese Prime Minister said.

The new ‘National Security Strategy’ has indicated that a major part of the proposed defence spending will be used for new missiles, fighter jets, drones and warships. Japan to buy more than 500 ‘Tomahawk’ missiles from the United States. At the same time, five and a half billion dollars have been allocated for advanced fighter aircraft to be developed with the help of Italy and the United Kingdom. Japan is also developing hypersonic missiles with a range of more than 1,000 kilometres and a large provision has been made for this. The Japanese government and defence forces are considering developing hypersonic interceptors for surface-to-surface missiles for the Japanese defence forces. It is claimed that Japan will complete production of the said missile by 2029. At the same time, Japan is also trying to produce suicide drones.