TEHRAN, December 08 -Japan is reportedly planning to increase its defense spending to a record high level over the next five years amid heightened US pressure to buy more American military equipment and join Washington to counter China.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC)-Japan is reportedly planning to increase its defense spending to a record high level over the next five years amid heightened US pressure to buy more American military equipment and join Washington to counter China.
Japan's largest financial daily the Nikkei reported on Saturday that the country’s defense ministry sought to spend at least 240 billion dollars between April 2019 and March 2024, with the military budget rising an average 1.1 percent per year compared with the 0.8-percent growth over the five years through fiscal 2018.
The paper said the proposed spending was in response to security challenges in the region and to narrow trade surplus with the US through additional purchases of American equipment.
Payments on military equipment and personnel expenses currently account for 80 percent of defense spending in Japan, according to the Nikkei.
The Japanese Cabinet aims to approve the new program in mid-December.
Earlier this month, the business paper also reported that Japan was poised to buy 100 F-35 stealth jets from the US at a cost of more than $8.8 billion, a move that suggested Tokyo might be developing aircraft carriers for the first time since World War II.
Source: presstv
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