JAPAN’S Ministry of Defense is seeking a fourth straight annual military budget hike to help fortify the country’s far-flung island chain in the East China Sea, close to disputed ocean territory claimed by China and Japan.
In a document submitted to the government yesterday, the ministry asked for a 2.2 percent increase in military spending to 5.09 trillion yen (US$42.38 billion) for the year starting in April. If approved, the new defense budget would be Japan’s biggest in 14 years.
Japan’s Defense Ministry will buy AAV7 amphibious assault vehicles made by BAE Systems, F-35 Stealth warplanes made by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft from Boeing Co. under the budget plan, said the document.
Other purchases would include Global Hawk drones made by Northrop Grumman Corp., mobile missile batteries and helicopters.
Money would also be allocated to building and extending military bases along the island chain, the document added.
As its territorial disputes with China grow, Japan is shifting from defending its northern borders from a diminished Russian threat with tanks and heavy armor to deploying a lighter, more mobile force in the East China Sea and the Western Pacific.
Japan and China contest ownership of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea called the Diaoyu Islands.
Only 150 km south of the outcrops, Japan is building a military radar station on Yonaguni island, home to 1,500 people.
In the budget request, defense officials have allocated US$90 million to expand an army base on Miyakojima island, 300 km east of Yonaguni and US$72 million for base construction on Amami Oshima, an island halfway between the main Okinawan island, home to the largest contingent of U.S. Marines in Asia, and the Japanese mainland.
(SD-Agencies)
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