Japan to raise defense spending

Japan doesn’t decide its defense budget worrying about its size relative to GDP, Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi told Nikkei in an exclusive interview on May 19, Report informs.

“We must increase our defense capabilities at a radically different pace than in the past,” considering China’s increased capabilities, as well as new areas of warfare such as space, cyber and electromagnetics, Kishi said.

The statement signals that Japan is ready to do away with its long-standing 1 percent GDP ceiling for annual defense spending, and reflects the country’s intent to bolster its own national defense capabilities, as Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga promised US President Joe Biden last month.

“The security environment surrounding Japan is changing rapidly with heightened uncertainty,” Kishi said.

“We will properly allocate the funding we need to protect our nation without considering outlays in relation to GDP,” he said.

Since the 1990s, the only year that Japan's defense spending exceeded 1 percent of GDP was fiscal 2010, when GDP plummeted after the global financial crisis. The country's defense budget has grown for nine straight years through fiscal 2021 but has remained below 1 percent of GDP.

That could change in fiscal 2021 if GDP drops again amid the coronavirus pandemic. Spending for fiscal 2020 came to 0.997 percent of fiscal 2020 GDP based on preliminary data announced Tuesday, and the budget for fiscal 2021 rose 0.5 percent to 5.34 trillion yen.

Intentionally crossing the 1 percent line would mark a turning point for Japan's security policy, and is likely to draw pushback from China.