Japan defense min. wants record budget

Japan’s Defense Ministry has asked the Tokyo government for a record high budget to purchase sophisticated military equipment and boost the country’s military power.

Officials at the ministry announced on Friday that they had demanded a 3.5-percent increase in the budget to 5.05 trillion yen (USD 48.7 billion) for the coming fiscal year starting in April 2015.

The extra money would be spent on buying F-35 stealth fighter jets, P-1 surveillance aircraft, Global Hawk drones and a radar-equipped destroyer.

“It is not a sudden increase in defense equipment for us, but rather a typical necessity in the process of keeping up with the maintenance of the Japanese defense system,” Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told a budget meeting.

The move is in line with the policies of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who is seeking a greater military role for Tokyo in East and Southeast Asia, but it runs contrary to Japan’s post-war constitution that bars the country from using force except for self-defense.

If the budget is approved, it will be the third year the defense spending has been increased following a decade of cuts.

Calls for a large increase in military budget come amid growing tensions between China and Japan over the ownership of a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.

Both Tokyo and Beijing are building up their militaries, with each accusing the other of growing assertiveness, particularly in the dispute over the islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

Earlier this week, Japanese media reported that the country’s Coast Guard had requested a doubling of its budget in order to purchase more patrol vessels and increase patrol staff.

MKA/NN/AS