TOKYO—Japan’s plans to spend billions of dollars on missiles and other weapons to deter China and North Korea herald a new phase of military competition in Asia.
Tokyo is aiming to narrow a vast military gap with China and reach a stalemate that will help maintain peace, as well as counter North Korea’s growing military power. The Pentagon estimates Beijing has more than 900 short-range ballistic and ground-launched cruise missiles that could hit Japan.
Japan said on Friday it would spend 43 trillion yen, currently around $322 billion, on defense over the next five years, including on deploying its first missiles that can hit military targets in other countries.
U.S. allies in the region broadly joined Washington in welcoming the plans. Australia, which recently signed an agreement to increase military exercises with Tokyo, gave some of the most full-throated support.
“These investments make Japan an even more indispensable partner for Australia,” Defense Minister
Richard Marles
tweeted.
Japan’s plans will bolster deterrence but won’t change the regional balance of power, which has been heavily reliant on the threat of U.S. military force to counter China. Washington has security treaty commitments to help defend Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia and Thailand in the region.
Even after its defense buildup, Japan’s annual military budget would be equivalent to less than one-third that of China’s 2021 military spending, as estimated by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Tetsuo Kotani, a senior fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs, a think tank in Tokyo, said China will continue to pursue regional hegemony, particularly over Taiwan, and North Korea will keep expanding its missile and nuclear program.
“But I think they will become more cautious about changing the status quo by actually using military power,” he said.
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