Japan on Tuesday said it intends to boost military spending by five per cent over the next five years, with a hardware splurge that will beef up defence of far-flung islands amid a territorial row with China.
The Cabinet of hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed that USD 240 billion would be spent between 2014 and 2019, including on drones, submarines, fighter jets and amphibious vehicles, in a strategic shift towards the south and west.
The shopping list is part of the efforts by Abe to normalise the military in Japan, which has been officially pacifist since defeat in World War II. Its well-equipped and highly professional services are limited to a narrowly defined self-defensive role. It comes with the establishment of a US-style National Security Council which may concentrate greater power to smaller senior politicians and bureaucrats.
Fears escalate in Japan over the rising power of China amid their dispute over the sovereignty of a group of islands in the East China Sea.