what does japan's defense spending hitting a new high mean?
2024-09-05
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on august 30, the japanese ministry of defense announced that the defense budget for 2025 is 8.5 trillion yen, which is a new high for japan's annual defense budget after 5.4 trillion yen in 2022, about 6.8 trillion yen in 2023, and 7.95 trillion yen in 2024. in recent years, japan's defense policy has changed significantly, casting a heavy shadow on the regional situation.
implementing the new defense policy
as a defeated country in world war ii, japan has been restricted by the international community and japan's peace constitution, and its annual defense expenditure has always been less than 1% of its gdp. however, for some time, due to various reasons, japan has gradually broken through the constraints of the peace constitution in the development of its armed forces and defense expenditure, challenging the international order established after world war ii. in december 2022, the japanese government issued three new defense policy documents, including the national security strategy, the defense program outline, and the medium-term defense force preparation plan, which shows that japan's defense policy has begun to undergo major changes and has shown a dangerous bellicosity.
in order to implement the new defense policy, japan has added a large number of construction projects, from the construction of defense systems and mechanisms to the strengthening of military scientific research and weapons and ammunition reserves, and battlefield construction. for example, before 2006, japan did not have a ministerial-level armed forces leadership organization, and the budgets of the self-defense forces and the defense agency were compiled in the japanese cabinet office. in 2006, japan upgraded the defense agency to the ministry of defense, which became the de facto ministry of defense, thus having the qualification to compile a separate budget.
at this time, the land staff office, maritime staff office, air staff office, and joint staff office of the japan self-defense force do not have operational command authority. according to the new version of the national security strategy in 2022, japan established a joint command under the ministry of defense, which became a command organization with operational command authority and connected with the us indo-pacific command. according to the joint statement issued after the us-japan diplomatic security "2+2" talks in january 2023, the commander of the japanese joint command has the rank of admiral, and unified command of the ground self-defense force, maritime self-defense force, air self-defense force, cyber defense command, space operations group and other forces. the joint command was established within the ministry of defense with a staff of about 240 people.
the establishment of a new command organization requires financial support for its supporting office space, facilities and equipment, personnel, and system operation. in fact, japan has already allocated special funds for the unified command in its 2024 defense expenditure. as its work unfolds and its elements are improved, the funds required will inevitably increase.
in addition, the implementation of japan's new defense policy also includes the "missile wall" plan to equip 1,000 medium- and long-range missiles, the purchase of 105 f-35 fighter jets, the purchase of 8 u.s.-made mq-9 "reaper" strategic drones, and the strengthening of military deployments such as situational awareness, air defense warning, and the deployment of self-defense forces in its southwest. the completion of these projects and plans will inevitably increase funding.
strengthening the u.s.-japan alliance
the last time japan used the strategic needs of the united states to expand its armed forces was when the united states transferred its troops to the korean battlefield. as a result, japan has grown from a small number of police forces to a self-defense force. so far, it not only has land, sea, and air self-defense forces, but also has established forces in new combat fields such as cyber warfare and space warfare. the background of japan's defense policy shift and strengthening is to use the united states to implement the "indo-pacific strategy" and to play a more important role in containing china. to this end, japan not only follows the united states in hyping up the "china threat theory", but also fully leverages and caters to the strategic needs of the united states in strengthening the command system and developing military forces.
first, the command system of the us military stationed in japan and the japanese self-defense forces should be closely connected. the us let go and encouraged japan to establish a unified command because it needed to use the unified command to integrate the japanese self-defense forces into the us military combat system. in fact, it is not realistic for the us military to directly command the operations of the various japanese self-defense forces. this is exactly the same as the us occupation forces headed by macarthur using japan's administrative system to control and manage japan, rather than the us occupation authorities directly managing japan.
sure enough, after the formation of the japanese joint command, the united states and japan held a diplomatic security "2+2" meeting on july 28 this year, announcing that the us forces japan command would be upgraded to the "joint forces headquarters". although it is still under the indo-pacific command, it has added combat command functions. under war conditions, the us joint forces headquarters in japan will directly connect with the japanese self-defense forces joint command to unify the command of us troops in japan and the japanese self-defense forces. us secretary of defense austin called this move "the most significant change since the us military was stationed in japan" and "the most important upgrade of us-japan military cooperation in 70 years."
the second is to use "ocus" to bind the united states and japan more closely. "ocus" is a "new partnership in defense and security" alliance formed by the united states, britain and australia in 2021. through the provision of nuclear submarine technology by the united states and britain, australia will support australia in producing nuclear-powered submarines in its own country. on april 10 this year, when japanese prime minister fumio kishida visited washington, biden announced that "ocus" officially accepted japan to join, and defined the nuclear submarine production cooperation between the united states, britain and australia as the "first pillar" of "ocus". japan's participation in the "second pillar" of "ocus" includes projects such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology, advanced networks, hypersonic technology, underwater warfare, drones and electronic warfare.
japan is a powerful country in economy and science and technology. its participation will provide technical impetus for the "second pillar" of ocus. it can be seen that the united states uses ocus to tie japan more closely to its own chariot and use japan's resources to develop the military capabilities of the united states and its allies, while japan uses the needs of the united states to achieve its political goal of expanding its armaments and becoming a so-called "normal country." the two sides take what they need and use each other, which poses a serious threat to regional peace.
third, japan's annual defense expenditure is approaching the us's requirements for nato allies. nato is a military group led by the united states, with its main combat area defined in europe. as the us military strategy tilts toward the indo-pacific region, the intention to replicate this military group in the indo-pacific region is becoming increasingly prominent. its steps mainly include two aspects: one is the indo-pacificization of nato, that is, mobilizing and encouraging nato countries and the nato group to pay attention to and intervene in indo-pacific affairs; the other is the indo-pacific natoization, that is, building the "quadrilateral security dialogue" mechanism of the united states, japan, india and australia, the "ocus" alliance, and military alliances and groups similar to nato such as the united states, japan, south korea, and the united states, japan, and the philippines in the indo-pacific region.
annual military spending of at least 2% of gdp is a basic requirement of the united states for nato allies. as the united states' main ally in the asia-pacific region, japan is also one of the main participants in the us "indo-pacific strategy". japan's annual defense spending has long been less than 1% of gdp. however, in recent years, based on the united states' need for japan to play a more important military role and japan's demand to become a so-called "normal country", japan's annual defense spending has begun to increase sharply.
when japan released its three defense policy documents at the end of 2022, it had already planned to increase its total defense spending to 43 trillion yen over the next five years. in order to reach 2% of gdp, it is very likely that japan will continue to significantly increase its annual defense spending.
strengthening military relations with regional countries
regardless of the us's positioning of japan in the regional military alliance, or japan's demand to become a so-called "normal country" and the need to strengthen its position in the regional geopolitical game, japan will strengthen its military relations with regional countries.
judging from the current situation, japan-rok relations have significantly improved and strengthened. this is due on the one hand to the pro-us and pro-japan policy of the current south korean president yoon seok-yeol, and on the other hand to the strong matchmaking of the united states. in march 2023, yoon seok-yeol made a state visit to japan. in august 2023, us president biden, japanese prime minister fumio kishida and south korean president yoon seok-yeol held a summit at camp david in maryland, the united states, and issued three documents: "the spirit of camp david", "the camp david principles" and "consultation agreement". on july 28 this year, us secretary of defense austin, japanese defense minister minoru kihara and south korean defense minister shin won-seok held talks at the japanese ministry of defense in tokyo and signed the "us-japan-rok security cooperation framework agreement". this means that the trilateral military cooperation between the united states, japan and south korea has been institutionalized and normalized, and it also means that the trilateral alliance between the united states, japan and south korea has basically taken shape.
southeast asia has always been valued by japan. in the late stage of world war ii, when the sino-japanese war was stalemate and domestic resources were exhausted, japan urgently needed to expand its aggression to obtain resources to "fight to support the war". between "going north (attacking the soviet union)" and "going south (occupying southeast asia)", japan chose the latter. currently, the vast market and abundant resources in southeast asia have made japan vigorously compete for southeast asia. after taking office, the marcos government of the philippines went back on its word and constantly provoked china in the south china sea, providing opportunities for japan to disrupt and profit in southeast asia.
japan and india are both members of the us "indo-pacific strategy" and "quadrilateral security dialogue" mechanisms. the united states is full of calculations in pulling the two countries into the "indo-pacific strategy": india has geopolitical and military influence on china from the southwest land, and japan has geopolitical and military influence on china from the northeast sea and air. the strengthening of relations between japan and india is not only the need of the two countries concerned, but also the intention of the us "indo-pacific strategy". on august 20, japanese defense minister minoru kihara and foreign minister yoko kamikawa visited india and held a "2+2" meeting with indian defense minister singh and foreign minister subrahmanyam jaishankar in delhi. this is the third time that japan and india have held such talks since 2019. based on india's "non-aligned" diplomatic tradition, india has only established a "2+2" dialogue mechanism with a few countries, except japan, only the united states, australia and russia.
japan's defense expenditure as a whole consists of two parts: one is the budget of the japan self-defense forces and the ministry of defense, and the other is to cover the expenses of the us troops stationed in japan. japan's defense expenditure has repeatedly set new highs, and will continue to rise sharply in the next step. according to the current trend, by 2027, japan's annual defense expenditure may reach 11 trillion yen. the sharp rise in japan's defense expenditure and japan's accelerated militarization are significant hazards to regional peace and must be taken seriously by regional countries.
(author’s unit: school of information and communication, national university of defense technology)
wu minwen
(source: china youth daily)
