In a break with its post-World War II pacifist stance, Japan on Friday announced it would begin an unprecedented $320 billion military build-up that will include the capability of striking China and readiness for a sustained conflict.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government worries that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has set a precedent that will encourage China to attack Taiwan, threatening nearby Japanese islands, disrupting supplies of advanced semiconductors and putting a potential stranglehold on sea lanes that supply Middle East oil.
"This is setting a new heading for Japan. If appropriately executed, the Self-Defense Forces will be a real, world-class effective force," said Yoji Koda, a former Maritime Self-Defense Force admiral, who commanded the Japanese fleet in 2008.
In the sweeping five-year plan, once unthinkable in pacifist Japan, the government said it would also stockpile spare parts and other munitions, expand transport capacity and develop cyber warfare capabilities.
In its postwar, American-authored constitution, Japan gave up the right to wage war and the means to do so.
"Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a serious violation of laws that forbid the use of force and has shaken the foundations of the international order," the strategy paper said.
"The strategic challenge posed by China is the biggest Japan has ever faced," it added, also noting that Beijing had not ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control.
A separate national security strategy document that pointed to China, Russia and North Korea, promised close cooperation with the United States and other like-minded nations to deter threats to the established international order.
"The Prime Minister is making a clear, unambiguous strategic statement about Japan's role as a security provider in the Indo-Pacific," U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said in a statement. "He has put a capital "D" next to Japan's deterrence," he added.
The White House was also positive with the development. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the overhaul of Japan's defense policy will "strengthen and modernize" the country's military alliance with the United States.
"Japan's goal to significantly increase defense investments will ... strengthen and modernize the U.S.-Japan Alliance," Sullivan said on Friday.
Meanwhile, a squadron of Chinese Navy ships sailed through straits near Japan into the Western Pacific this week, while Beijing on Friday blasted Tokyo's adoption of a new national security strategy putting itself on a more offensive footing – largely as a result of the perceived threat from China.
The destroyers Lhasa and Kaifeng, and a replenishment ship, sailed through the Osumi Strait in southern Japan, while a Dongdiao-class surveillance ship with hull No. 796 sailed through the Miyako Strait south of Okinawa, all arriving in the Western Pacific by Thursday.
Japan's Defense Ministry said the craft were closely shadowed by Japanese ships and planes throughout.
The Communist Party newspaper Global Times on Friday cited unidentified experts saying the mission "sent a signal amid Japan's recent militaristic moves" that will display the People's Liberation Army's "capabilities in safeguarding China's national sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interests."
"The Ukraine war has shown us the necessity of being able to sustain a fight, and that is something Japan has not so far been prepared for," said Toshimichi Nagaiwa, a retired Air Self-Defense Force general. "Japan is making a late start, it is like we are 200 meters behind in a 400-meter sprint," he added.
China's defense spending overtook Japan's at the turn of the century, and now has a military budget more than four times larger.
Kishida's plan will double defense outlays to about 2% of its gross domestic product (GDP) over five years, blowing past a self-imposed 1% spending limit that has been in place since 1976.
It will increase the defense ministry's budget to around a tenth of all public spending at current levels and will make Japan the world's third-biggest military spender after the United States and China, based on current budgets.
That splurge will provide work to Japanese military equipment makers such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), which is expected to lead the development of three of the longer-range missiles that will be part of Japan's new missile force.
MHI will also build Japan's next jet fighter alongside BAE Systems PLC and Leonardo SPA in a joint project between Japan, Britain and Italy announced last week.
Tokyo allocated $5.6 billion for that in the five-year defense program.
Foreign companies will also benefit. Japan says it wants ship-launched U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles made by Raytheon Technologies to be part of its new deterrent force.
To pay for the military build-up, Kishida's ruling bloc earlier on Friday said it will raise tobacco, corporate and disaster-reconstruction income taxes. But, with opposition to tax hikes within his ruling Liberal Democratic party still strong, the Japanese leader has yet to say when he will implement those higher rates.
