TOKYO (AP) Japan needs to boost its military spending to counter the potential threat from China's increasingly powerful armed forces and North Korea's long-range missiles, its defense minister said Tuesday.
Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said Japan cannot afford to be complacent over what he said are significant security issues in the region. His ministry announced last week it is seeking a 3 percent increase in defense spending for the coming year, the biggest increase it has requested in 22 years.
Onodera said the increase reflects growing concern in Japan that it must move to counter a more assertive Chinese military amid territorial disputes over uninhabited southern islands. He also noted that North Korea has the ability to strike targets within Japan including U.S. bases where about 50,000 American troops are stationed and said Japan's military must be fully prepared to respond with its allies to any contingency with the North.
"There are various tensions ongoing in Asia, and in some cases, there are countries that even use threats," he said.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been a strong advocate of strengthening Japan's military despite the country's other economic pressures, including the massive costs of reconstruction and decontamination following the nuclear disaster triggered by the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan's northern shoreline in 2011. Japan's defense spending has been declining steadily for 11 years, although it increased slightly this year.