Japan's accelerated increase in defense spending raises concerns

TOKYO -- The Japanese government recently approved a supplementary budget proposal for fiscal 2025 (April 2025-March 2026), boosting defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) ahead of schedule, a move that has sparked concerns across various sectors in Japan.

Included in the budget proposal approved by the cabinet on Friday is 1.1 trillion yen (about $7.04 billion) in additional defense spending. Including the 9.9 trillion yen in the regular budget, total defense-related spending for the current fiscal year would reach about 11 trillion yen to meet the government's target of bringing it to 2 percent of GDP.

The government initially set fiscal 2027 as the target date for achieving the 2-percent goal. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in an October policy speech that she aimed to reach the 2-percent goal in fiscal 2025, two years earlier than the fiscal 2027 date laid out in a multi-year defense buildup program in 2022.

An editorial published by Japan's Asahi Shimbun on Sunday pointed out that Japan's three updated documents on its security and defense policies propose "fundamentally strengthening defense capabilities" and acquiring "the capability to strike enemy bases." But this "enemy base attack capability" undermines the country's "exclusively defense-oriented policy," it added.

Takaichi's security policies have continued this line of moves, including further increasing defense spending and significantly relaxing restrictions on arms exports. The further deterioration of Japan's status as a pacifist country is deeply concerning, the editorial said.

Professor Emeritus Atsushi Koketsu of Japan's Yamaguchi University told Xinhua that the Japanese government is accelerating its military expansion program. For the Japanese economy, defense spending exceeding 10 trillion yen is an extremely heavy burden, and this approach disregards the people's livelihood.