Japan's Supplementary Defense Budget Nears 8 Trillion Won...Aimed at Military Deterrence Against China

"To Advance the Timing of Weapon Imports Such as Patrol Aircraft and Mines"
Defense Spending Expected to Exceed 2% of GDP for the First Time Since World War II

[Image source=Japan Ministry of Defense website]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] It has been reported that Japan's supplementary budget will include a massive defense expenditure approaching 8 trillion Korean won. This is an unprecedented scale, estimated as the cost for strengthening defense capabilities to enhance military deterrence against China. As Japan moves to strengthen its defense capabilities, military tensions with China and neighboring countries are expected to rise further.

According to Japan's Kyodo News on the 19th, the supplementary budget currently being prepared by the Japanese government is expected to include defense spending of over 770 billion yen (approximately 7.97 trillion Korean won). The Nihon Keizai (Nikkei) newspaper also forecasts that defense spending exceeding 700 billion yen will be included in the supplementary budget, indicating that the Japanese government is planning to allocate an unusually large amount for defense in this supplementary budget.

According to Nikkei, Japan's Ministry of Defense plans to include costs for purchasing new defense equipment such as patrol aircraft and mines in the supplementary budget, citing changes in the security environment. The Ministry of Defense had previously sought to include additional defense costs for patrol aircraft, transport aircraft, and mines in the fiscal year 2022 budget request (April 2022 to March 2023), but to advance the acquisition timing of these equipment, it intends to account for the purchase costs in this supplementary budget, Nikkei reported.

The reason Japan is trying to advance the timing of major weapons purchases is interpreted as a response to the need to rapidly expand defense capabilities to counter China's military expansion and North Korea's nuclear and missile development. Earlier, it was reported that China successfully conducted two tests of hypersonic missile weapons capable of neutralizing existing missile defense systems in July and August, raising concerns in Japanese political circles that the U.S. nuclear deterrence in East Asia could be significantly weakened.

As a result, Japan's defense budget, combining the main budget of 5.3422 trillion yen and the supplementary budget, is expected to reach 6 trillion yen, the largest scale since World War II. According to major foreign media, the Japanese government has maintained its defense budget within 1% of GDP since World War II, but it is expected to exceed 2% this year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.