Japan will double its defense spending in the next five years, according to a policy roadmap released June 7. The document cited the need to increase defense capabilities and maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait, where Beijing has increased its military presence.
The Japanese Cabinet approved the annual fiscal and economic policy roadmap, the first such policy guidelines released under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration.
The escalation of Chinese military activities in East Asia has heightened Tokyo’s concerns about the self-ruled island. Taiwan, along with its neighbor, Japanese-controlled Okinawa, contain Beijing’s forces.
Kishi said the activities could be part of an effort to improve China’s ability to operate aircraft carriers and conduct operations in more distant waters and airspace.
“Given that these activities are in the sea and airspace near Japan’s Nansei Islands and Taiwan, we must watch these activities with concern,” he said.
“A Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency, and therefore an emergency for the Japan–U.S. alliance. People in Beijing, [Chinese regime leader] Xi Jinping in particular, should never have a misunderstanding in recognizing this,” he said, adding that Japan and Taiwan must work together to protect freedom and democracy.
The document, which discussed issues from energy security to Kishida’s “new capitalism” economic policy, did not specify how much a commitment to “drastically strengthen” defense spending would be.