Japan's Defense Ministry seeks ¥5.48 trillion budget amid China worries

Japan's authorities just uses threat from China as pretext to increase military budget.

At least, present Japan where depends to many MADE IN CHINA cannot even tense relation with China no matter how much Japan spent to military equipment.

As the USA withdraws in the middleeast and the oil wars finally end, we will see the “pivot to Asia” and the new age of cold war(s), threats, and power struggles.

All the expensive toys that the Kishi/Abe clan want will not compensate for inept and spineless leadership. Besides, the young don't want to join the JSDF who incidentally are missing recruiting quotas, who's going to man all these weapons systems? Kishi? Abe?

They have all this money for toys, but not enough for disabled training schools, as above the youth aren’t really interested in joining the military. So who will man these new toys? And that is why the push for a constitution change, to allow mass conscription. Then they will need extra money for hair spray and phone re-chargers.

And who exactly will fly, operate & maintain this ‘defense’? It appears the continued presence of the American bases in Japan are necessary along with Brits continuing to aid, train and patrol the seas surrounding it.

“Critics say Japan, as the world’s fastest-aging country with a shrinking population, should allocate more money toward health care and other purposes instead of defense spending.” -

Unmanned vessels? A.I.? Robots?- A popular ‘fantasy’ image Japan endeavors to perpetuate but it can’t even provide consistent Wi-Fi & cellular service throughout the country and banking is subject to frequent hacking cyber security breeches.

With so many Japanese youth employed in dead-end part time jobs you'd think that a career in the military would be an attractive prospect.

However, despite the JSDF investing heavily in shiny new toys, they certainly don't do the same when it comes to JSDF salaries, conditions and allowances.

A detailed comparison is in the article linked below. It should be an embarassment for the JSDF.

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/japan-self-defense-force-crisis-ranks-79846

Decrease that budget and put money on covid beds and more material, oxygen supply

Reality of having China, Russia and N. Korea as neighbors doesn't seem to matter when judging Japan and its actions as always. Full of Bull and Bias.

Just read the story about millions of unused Olympics covid supplies thrown away, and yet the Govt wants us to believe they can spend trillions wisely on defence?

You know what's 1000x worse then Covid?

Being attacked by China, Russia and N. Korea. All Nuclear countries.

Nice! All that cash to be spent on American hardware, it's good for the US. Japan just needs nukes.

Probably better to spend the money preparing for natural disasters in Japan though, which would likely kill more people than China ever would. Flooding, landslides, tsunamis and earthquakes, so many to choose from.

I would argue that a force projection capability is necessary to hold Chinese ships at risk in contested waters.

That’s why I was disappointed in the cancellation of the air launched anti-ship missile.

The China threat is real.

My hope is America still has friends to combat the threat.

Just IMAGINE how better off every Japanese would be if this money was spent on improving the lives of the people.

Like FREE EDUCATION to all, or building more nursing schools, or more nursing homes, or provide better quality health care, or lowering the TAX brackets and on and on.

Looks like the mongers are back.

China in the process of deployment of 200 nuclear missile silos in Tibet,not very smart ,when they are space over a 5 miles area Google China Missile Silos

I would argue that a force projection capability is necessary to hold Chinese ships at risk in contested waters.

That’s why I was disappointed in the cancellation of the air launched anti-ship missile.

Japan is still buying JASSMs and integrating them into their F-15s. An aircraft that can employ a JASSM can almost certainly employ LRASMs. In the event of a war you can bet the US will be more than happy to give them to Japanese forces to use against a shared enemy. In fact I would be surprised if the Japanese decision to not buy their own was the result of consultations with the US in order to save Japanese defense budget for other things.

My hope is America still has friends to combat the threat.

Chairman Xi has this habit of saying or doing things that scare other nations into looking to the US, Australia and Japan for mutual protection. Xi Jinping in some ways is China's worst enemy.

Being attacked by China, Russia and N. Korea. All Nuclear countries.

They will not use nuclear weapons for attack or invasion against Taiwan/Japan/others. They can't use them in the first place. They would have done it already many years ago if they wanted. It seems to me they are keeping unusable weapon forever there as military performance.

China is no threat. They will not do anything that will jeopardize their economy.

Nice! All that cash to be spent on American hardware, it's good for the US. Japan just needs nukes.

Japan is one of those nations that could have nuclear weapons very quickly. The materials and knowledge is already there. But for most combat situations, precision guided munitions and modern high energy penetrator warheads make nuclear weapons unnecessary. The rule of thumb in ordnance is that to reliably destroy a target the blast radius should be at least equal to the weapons CEP, or Circular Error Probable. CEP is a circle in which there is at least a 50% chance of the weapon falling inside the circle. Even if the weapon hits a little outside the circle the blast radius us such it will take out the target. Free fall bombs and early ICBMs had CEPs of hundreds of meters, sometimes even thousands of meters. To reliably destroy some targets you needed the blast radius of a nuclear weapon. Today CEPs are down to less than ten meters making conventional ordnance quite capable of destroying targets, maybe including ICBM silos, that used to require nuclear weapons to destroy. Nukes are more terror weapons today. Their combat utility is limited as the blast radius is no longer necessary to destroy most targets and the collateral damage is considered unnecessary.

Japan buys more advanced weapons from the US, because it is a kind of messages to China. If a war/fight between China and Japan happened somehow, China and Japan are going to suffer a lot of economic damages from the war. Japan never start war and never win the war. China and Japan are connected economically each other more importantly. China is a whole military country. Japan don't need to follow China's military way. So buying weapons is a deterrent strategy to China/N Korea/others.

The threat from China is very real and recognized by all nations.

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2021/08/77be8d886435-india-us-japan-australia-to-hold-joint-naval-exercise-again.html

Only j-haters and wumaos claim there is no threat.

Japan's spending as a proportion of GDP is still relatively low at less than 1 % which is likely a result of the constitution. Compare that to China's (spending 1.7 % of GDP), Russia (4.3 %), or the United States (3.7 %) and you will see that Japan is not likely to catch up to these other big players any time soon...

Good idea to build their own equipment including fighter jets! The US equipment is overpriced junk!

Good idea to build their own equipment including fighter jets! The US equipment is overpriced junk!

Care to tell us your bona fides to make such a statement? How many tactical jet types have you flown? How many hours do you have? How much hands on experience do you have with the weapons systems and sensors of various nations? How many years or decades is your experience? Be specific with your answer.

While territorial issues and expansionism of China threaten Japan, economic ties between the two countries are getting stronger. Both governments appear not intervening in economic and trade matters.

The F35 programme, in total, will see no change from $1.5 trillion. And they lost in Afghanistan going up against guys with donkeys.

$1bn will be enough for some plans and a few models. Developing your own warplanes nowadays is blank chequebook territory. Enjoy the extra taxes.

Not much use anyway. If push comes to shove, countries will just sabotage their enemy's nuclear power plants using mercenaries, take down their internet services, or unleash a virus and seal their own borders. Planes are no use against any of this. They are just too 20th century.

Great way of moving public money into private pockets though. No audit or oversight due to national security. Sacks of free money for all your chums.

China is not going to create a war to lose the possibility of being the future world economic leader,

No, China would engage in such a war to advance their position relative to the US and other nations, thinking other nations will be too afraid to challenge them if they are successful.

They will not use nuclear weapons for attack or invasion against Taiwan/Japan/others. They can't use them in the first place. They would have done it already many years ago if they wanted. It seems to me they are keeping unusable weapon forever there as military performance.

Assured destruction from the US keeps Chinese nuclear weapons in their bunkers or silos. Without that US deterrent China would indeed use them, and especially against the hated Japanese.

Just IMAGINE how better off every Japanese would be if this money was spent on improving the lives of the people.

Every nation could say the same. The reality is when unfriendly neighbors arm for war you are forced to do the same or at some point you pay for not doing so with loss of freedom.

the jealous and sore losers UK and US want to stop the progress of China at any cost,

Very strange that UK and US would continue to invest billions of dollars in China, aiding their progress then. Huge Tesla factory in China, Universal studios theme park in China and so many other things all building up China's progress.

they cannot bear to be second table and they put the rest of the world in fear and terror so that "democratic" countries buy their war toys,

If your on top, would you happily lose your hard won position and take "second table" to a fundamentally flawed and opposing foreign government? A government building and selling "war toys" of its own to anyone who wants them on mass?

China talks of peace but its actions are for war. They may fool a blind man but the world can see the duplicity and untrustworthy Chinese ambitions for world dominance. No thanks!

I'd agree if it's for Japan to buy its own weapon system, but nope, it just buys overpriced american junk.

China is economically dominating Japan on many fronts, so kinetic warfare means not much in this new world. Japan is wasting funds on the wrong types of warfare, and it appears to me that they are enriching American defense contractors under the command from Washington DC.

Assured destruction from the US keeps Chinese nuclear weapons in their bunkers or silos. Without that US deterrent China would indeed use them, and especially against the hated Japanese.

China has never used nuclear weapons to any country whatever. China will never use them whether there is the US bases or not in Okinawa or whole Japan. Maybe your nature must be belligerent, so that's why you think that war. Communist China think they want number 1 country on everything. If China started war, China and Japan will suffer largest economic damages. China will not take such stupid risk about economic damages. China's military march/drills are always just performance to democratic countries. They want to show country's military strength and N Korea as well. So they never use nukes.

A nation with a weak economy cannot defend itself well or maintain its integrity. If Japan is to maintain strength in the face of an aggressive China, Japan needs to stop destroying their own economy. Once weapons have to be used, it's a lost cause.

China has already threatened Japan with Nuclear destruction and to remove their no first use policy just to use Nuclear Weapons Against Japan if we help Taiwan.

North Korea fired ballistic missiles over Japan and Threatened Japan with Nuclear destruction less then 10 years ago.

Even when China and N. Korea make their Nuclear Threats very clear.... The Anti-Japan fan boys still say Don't Worry About It, Will Never Happen. Pure fantasy for Nuclear Weapons to be used against Japan.

Japan needs an alliance with like-minded neighboring countries.

Relying on the US for protection is no longer assuring, given Biden's demonstrated commitment to Afghanistan and his family history of dealings with China.

Abe and his factotum Suga, with fevered dreams of Empire. As if, there would be even the most remote possibility of engaging in a war with China, that had a positive outcome. China, would burn all of japan to a cinder and wipe it off the earth.

The misallocation of resources, the purchase of F-35 jets, which are ill-designed, highly flawed boondoggles not fit to fly is an indication of the stupidity of wasting large amounts of coin on weapons of war. Further, it creates a dependency on the USA, as a supply chain for an alreadyu obsolete plane.

Best to spend monies of the body social: education, health, housing, clean air & water, agriculture and investment in business related technology and foremost science.

Japan needs a strong military and strong economy of its own and strong allies.

There's no guarantees china won't use nuclear weapons against Japan and USA military just because they haven't in the past.

North Korea's a loose canon of who knows what.. and Russia is definitely ready.

Change is a coming.

The rather odd reference to Afghanistan and the abandonment by the USA of an Imperial outpost, on the edge of Empire, as a reason for expanding the Japanese military aka self-defense force is absurd ad nauseum - Japan is not a medieval country harboring terrorists (so was the justification) with a population that are fundamentalist followers of Islam. Afghanistan country ranked 113th by GDP (Japan is 3rd). A country of peasants engaged in agriculture. With warlords, bandit chiefs and mullahs. The comparison is neither apt or accurate.

The USA stations its troops in Japan as an offshore base to the Asian mainland, part of its Trans-Pacific strategy and 'pivot to Asia'. There is also the push by the USA, for Japan to develop its military - which in comparison to Afghanistan, is not robed members of the peasantry, riding around in pick-up trucks with AK-47s and rocket launchers. Japan is also seen as an outlet for high-tech weapons sales.

China, is the assembly and manufacturing base for the West and much of the world. Its relations are trade and business related - many Japanese products are manufactured in China. China's economy is intertwined with Japan and China is seen as a potential market. Ridiculous notions about 'defending' against China are simply a ploy by less than cagey, rather transparent politicos who are actually, out-of-touch with the actual needs of the citizenry.

If I were born again I would be an arms dealer.

War in Asia benefits nobody…

Hideomi Kuze

Japan's authorities just uses threat from China as pretext to increase military budget.

The threat from China is very real. The question is if the j-government has the will to actually use all this hardware once CCP China e.g. starts restricting sea traffic to and from Taiwan, or suddenly has a presence on the Senkakus.

Zaphod-

Japan military is lethal if it decides and they getting seriously annoyed with Chinese agression.

I can almost see senkaku outside my window.

Subs and warships of Japan's allies all over around here and the french are doing a fantastic job facing off china.

Germany's almost here.

Lots of drones

Olympics would have paid for this -- or most of it -- but now that they've had that, they want extra money for more defense, which is ALWAYS the excuse to line the companies of politicians invested in weapons of war.

China, is the assembly and manufacturing base for the West and much of the world. Its relations are trade and business related -

Since China has no natural enemies it is confusing as to why China see's the need to have the worlds biggest navy, construct hundreds of nuclear silos, continually develop new weapons systems and plan on a forceful occupation of Taiwan and an continue it's illegal occupation of other nations EEZ's in the South China sea many hundreds of miles from Chinese territory.

Ridiculous notions about 'defending' against China are simply a ploy by less than cagey, rather transparent politicos who are actually, out-of-touch with the actual needs of the citizenry.

Retaining sovereignty and free and open international waters are basic needs of citizenry in all nations. Stopping arbitrary theft by nations bent on domination of others through trade coercion and military power projection as China has demonstrated under Jinping Xi is prudent and absolutely required by Japan and other maritime nations both in the Asian region and beyond.

China and it's tools online continue to say one thing while China's actions remain transparently obvious and nothing like what China preaches. Nobody trusts China's word, nor should they until it's actions show it has chosen against constructing its own colonial Empire.

kurisupisuToday  03:08 pm JST

War in Asia benefits nobody…

Exactly. Please tell that to China,

'Prepare for War,' China Military Warns in New Propaganda Poster for Taiwan"

https://www.newsweek.com/prepare-war-china-military-warns-new-propaganda-poster-taiwan-1599354

"Xi Jinping tells China marine corps to prepare for war"

https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/xi-jinping-tells-china-marine-corps-to-prepare-for-war/news-story/2adfa20da8edf1b601fcaf46747860f5

The only thing to worry about, is the increase in the budget. That and "beefing up" its Space Forces.

It seems to me China is going to do the Hong Kong strategy to take over Taiwan. China try to change Taiwan from its deep inside of government. 70-80% of Taiwan people oppose to China now and pro-China is 20-30% of people. China will not invade/attack Taiwan under the condition of anti-China 70-80%. Communist China's strategy is to change Taiwanese minds to shift to pro-China 70%. When 70% of Taiwan people wish to agree to communist China, then China will take over Taiwan without war/battle. That's why China is military drills around Taiwan strait times and try to make more pro-China politicians/lawmakers to its parliament/Diet. This is Hong Kong strategy.

Is Japan getting con by American weapons makers again???. Please wake up, China not interested in war.

China has never used nuclear weapons to any country whatever. China will never use them whether there is the US bases or not in Okinawa or whole Japan.

Believing that is supremely naive. China would use them in a second if they thought there was no nuclear retribution coming. You do not appear to understand the depth of Chinese hatred of Japan. China would nuke every Japanese city in retribution for WWII if they thought nothing bad would happen as a result. And they also believe that were China to get away with it, nobody would ever challenge their dominance again. The world would cower at their feet. China is not the west and see the world differently.

Tara -

China is fighting with economics and war is big business.

Japan needs become strong again because China is too pushy.

Want some Sina print on this? Today from Sina:

Regarding Japan’s military expenditure reaching a new high, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin [spokesperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, deputy director of the Foreign Ministry Information Department], said on the 31st that due to historical reasons, Japan’s military security trends have attracted the attention of its Asian neighbors and the international community. Japan has increased its defense budget for nine consecutive years, and Japan’s frequent use of neighboring countries is just to find an excuse for its military expansion. China urges Japan to stick to the path of peaceful development, be cautious in words and deeds in the field of military security, and do more things that are conducive to maintaining regional peace and stability, not the other way around.

https://mil-sina-cn.translate.goog/zgjq/2021-09-01/detail-iktzqtyt3456463.d.html?vt=4&cid=56268&node_id=56268&_x_tr_sl=zh-CN&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=ajax,se,elem,sc

China would use them in a second if they thought there was no nuclear retribution coming. You do not appear to understand the depth of Chinese hatred of Japan. China would nuke every Japanese city in retribution for WWII if they thought nothing bad would happen as a result. And they also believe that were China to get away with it, nobody would ever challenge their dominance again. The world would cower at their feet. China is not the west and see the world differently.

You watched toooooooo many war movies. Nukes never happen in the future. It sounds like all Chinese hate Japan, this is not true. Actually most of Chinese don't care about Japanese because they believe China is number 1 country but some communist members probably don't like Japan. For many decades China and Japan are now connected economically and depending each other on large economy (imports and exports) and also globally. China can't use nukes. Remember China is a member of the UN!

China can't use nukes. Remember China is a member of the UN!

UN membership won't stop them. They know other nations would not try to expel them from the UN fearing retribution.

For many decades China and Japan are now connected economically and depending each other on large economy (imports and exports) and also globally. 

China would simply operate the factories of Japanese companies in China through the Chinese partner companies all those Japanese companies are forced to team with, usually as the minority partner.

It sounds like all Chinese hate Japan, this is not true.

Some may not but most do, especially families like mine who suffered under the IJA.

Desert Tortoise,

How old are you? Chinese people have not suffered under the IJA for 76 years.

I know more people who have suffered (and fled) under the CCP than the IJA.

China would simply operate the factories of Japanese companies in China through the Chinese partner companies all those Japanese companies are forced to team with, usually as the minority partner.

If Chinese people really hate/dislike Japan, they will not welcome many Japanese factories, department stores, restaurants, unique shops all over China and also will not build Japanese little towns in China. They love all of them. That's why people go enjoy Japanese cultures there, but communist party don't like them. I think you never get it!