Japanese Defence Ministry seeks record $51 billion budget

— 105.6 billion yen ($1 billion) to upgrade a dozen of Japan’s PAC-3 surface-to-air missile defence systems to increase range and accuracy for deployment in 2020.

— 14.7 billion yen ($140 million) to acquire next-generation missile interceptors jointly developed by Japan and the U.S., and to upgrade the capabilities of the destroyers that would carry them.

— 76 billion yen ($735 million) to develop a new submarine with advanced surveillance capabilities in the face of growing Chinese activity in the East China Sea.

— 74.6 billion yen ($720 million) to station guard units on the southern islands of Miyakojima and Amami Oshima.

The Defence Ministry is also seeking the development of a long-range ship-to-air missile and the purchase of F-35 fighter jets. It would also set up an amphibious unit to be stationed in Nagasaki on the southern main island of Kyushu.

Japan is bolstering surveillance and defence in the country’s southwestern seas amid intensifying tensions around the disputed islands in the East China Sea, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. Japan controls the remote, uninhabited islands.

Under Abe, parliament enacted security legislation last year to enhance the country’s military role, and revised its bilateral defence guidelines with the U.S., allowing broader co-operation between the two allies.

Japan’s annual defence report, released in early August, said North Korea may have achieved the capability to miniaturize atomic weapons so they can be mounted on warheads, as well as acquired a missile capable of reaching as far as 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles).

The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Japanese Defence Ministry seeks record $51 billion budget

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