U.S. and Japanese sailors discuss Tomahawk missile procedures aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell during training at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, on March 28, 2024. (Charles Oki/U.S. Navy)
TOKYO — The severely weakened Japanese yen won’t deter Japan from pursuing its goal of increased defense spending as it prepares for the “most severe and complex security environment” since World War II, Japan’s Defense Ministry said Friday.
Japan is pushing to increase defense spending to about $68 billion, or 2% of the gross domestic product in fiscal 2022, as concerns grow over Russian, Chinese and North Korean activity in the Indo-Pacific region, according to Japan’s annual defense paper released Friday.
“The international community has entered a new era of crisis,” wrote Japan’s Defense Minister Minoru Kihara in the paper’s introduction. “It is now facing its greatest trial since the end of World War II. The existing order is being seriously challenged.”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in 2022 pledged to meet the 2% GDP goal by fiscal year 2027, but since then the yen has plummeted in value from about 140 yen per $1 in November 2022 to about 161 per $1 on July 11, its lowest value in nearly four decades.
Japan’s total defense budget for 2024 was approximately $56 billion, about 1.6% of its 2022 GDP. That budget was a 64% increase from its $34 billion defense budget in fiscal year 2022.
Much of Japan’s defense budget is used to procure weapons and aircraft, such as Tomahawk cruise missiles or F-35 Lightning II fighter jets, and other military assets through the U.S. in deals that are typically conducted in the stronger American dollar.
To combat its weakening currency, Japan hopes to implement “greater efficiency” in its pursuit of increased defense spending by reexamining expenses, developing long-term contracts and making bulk purchases, according to the paper.
The Japanese government also proposed tax increases to fund its military buildup, but public opinion is unclear and tax policy debates are expected to intensify later this year, according to Nicholas Szechenyi, senior fellow and deputy director for Asia at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.
“Yen depreciation could certainly force some decisions about priorities,” Szechenyi told Stars and Stripes by email Friday.
Japan’s military buildup is billed as a defensive measure in an increasingly unstable geopolitical arena.
This year’s white paper reiterated many of the same sentiments expressed in the 2023 edition, including concerns over North Korean missile launches and possible nuclear tests, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and an increase in Chinese activity in the skies and waters around Japan.
“It cannot be ruled out that a serious situation similar to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine may occur in the Indo-Pacific region in future, particularly in East Asia,” the paper reads.
Concerns in this year’s edition include heightened tensions between China and Taiwan, exemplified by two days of military drills around the island after Taiwan President Lai Ching-te took office May 20.
“Stability in the situation surrounding Taiwan is important not only for the security of Japan, but also for the stability of the international community, and Japan must continue to monitor the situation with even greater vigilance,” it stated.
North Korea, meanwhile, is actively improving its nuclear and missile technologies and focusing more on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, according to the paper.
“North Korea’s military activities pose an even more grave and imminent threat to Japan’s security than ever before,” it said. “They seriously undermine the peace and security of the region and the international community.”
Key to deterring these threats are the U.S.-Japan alliance, further developing Japan’s defense capabilities and expanding diplomatic ties with European and Asian countries, according to the paper.
The paper’s authors emphasize that Japan would adhere to its constitution’s “basic precepts of maintaining an exclusively defense-oriented policy and not becoming a military power that poses threats to other countries.”
