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The security situation in the world is changing and, sadly, not for the better. As the world’s eyes are directed to Ukraine, China is also showing increased preparedness to attack and occupy Taiwan. Loud saber rattling is heard from North Korea as well. None of this is good news for Japan, which has territorial disputes with Russia and views North Korea and China as potential threats.
Japanese main battle tank Type 10, which entered service in 2012. Image credit: T.Goto via Wikimedia
In this context, Japan’s decision to double its defense spending is actually quite logical. Japan has positioned itself as a non-threatening country, concerned only with its territorial defense. This made this island nation maintain a relatively modest defense budget.
However, as the world’s security situation is rapidly deteriorating, Japan has made a decision to increase its defense spending from 1% to 2%. This may not seem that much, but this means that soon Japan will spend more than 100 billion dollars a year on defense, which will put it in third place in the world behind only the US and China.
However, this increase is not coming into effect right away. Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida instructed to increase the defense budget to 2% of GDP until 2027. For 2022 Japan’s defense spendings remain at a “modest” 1.1 %, which is still 54.1 billion dollars. Even this amount puts Japan in 9th place in the world in the top military spenders.
Japan will be buying sixth-generation fighter jets, new missile systems, armored vehicles, and stronger air defenses. Japan will be interested in anti-ship defenses and military ships as well. Its island form is going to help strengthen those military measures, but that is still a major concern.
We can predict Japan will invest heavily in intelligence gathering as well, as North Korea’s operations are highly secretive. Japan has a strong military industry, but it is likely that a lot of the new weaponry is going to come from abroad.
How do Russia, China and North Korea pose a threat to the security of Japan? Well, Japan is still disputing the ownership of the four southernmost Kuril islands, currently held by Russia. In fact, Japan and the Soviet Union never signed a formal peace treaty after the Second World War.
Meanwhile, China is fortifying its presence in the South China sea. Huge oil and natural gas reserves are believed to lie beneath its seabed. Military presence in this region, to the point of building artificial islands to house navy bases, is viewed as threatening by Japan and other countries in the region. Particularly, Taiwan fears the Chinese attempts to occupy the island.
Finally, North Korea is constantly engaged in saber rattling. In fact, just this year Japanese people heard the howl of sirens because North Korea launched a missile over Japan.
Japan has the ambition to become one of the strongest military powers in the world. And it’s well-founded – it is more of a necessity now than ever.
Source: Defence-ua.com
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