TOKYO - Japan's Defense Ministry has put forth its largest-ever budget request as it seeks an allocation of JPY4.9-5.5 trillion ($47-53 billion) for fiscal year 2015 (Japan's fiscal year runs from April 1 through March 31). The request comes as the country's latest Defense White Paper - recently put forth by the conservative government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe - forcefully notes that the security environment surrounding Japan has become increasingly 'severe'.
While the latest defense funding request appears part of the Abe government's five-year (2014-2018), JPY24.7 trillion ($240 billion) spending plan unveiled on December 17, 2013, it also reflects growing concern over tensions in the East China Sea, where both Japan and China have competing claims over a series of small islets referred to by Tokyo as the Senkaku and by Beijing as the Diaoyu. Since returning to power in December 2012, the Abe government has sought not only to bolster defense spending in light of tensions with China and North Korea, but to alter the dynamic regarding defense policy and its self-imposed constitutional limitations. The dynamic is largely a cultural one in a society divided over memories of its World War II-era militarism.
One of the first major changes in policy approach under the Abe government came back on April 1when it moved to ease the country's self-imposed weapons export restrictions. The alterations in arms export policy - which dated back to the 1967 "Three Principles" doctrine - are intended to allow Japanese defense companies to participate in joint weapons development projects in order to bolster military technological advances, while also helping these companies improve their revenue streams by expanding the marketability of their wares beyond state orders.
Then in July the government adopted a resolution easing the constitutional ban on Japan's ability to engage in collective self-defense, thus outlining a shift away from the post-war pacifism that has remained in place since the end of the Second World War in 1945.
With those two steps the signals could not be clearer: Japan intends on allowing itself flexibility of movement to cooperate in both defense research and security operations with its allies. But more importantly, the government intends on strengthening Japan's deterrent capabilities in the face of China's growing maritime and first-strike reach and North Korea's nuclear/ballistic missile developments.
Some of the defense/deterrent elements outlined in the FY15 budget request include two new Atago-class Aegis-equipped destroyers, six new-generation stealth F-35A Joint Strike Fighters, and 20 new P-1 maritime patrol aircraft.
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