Japan ramps up WW3 tension with HUGE £180 billion military spending on jets and missiles
JAPAN will accelerate spending on jets and missiles to support US forces facing China’s military in the Western Pacific, two new government papers said.
By Douglas Patient
DailyStar.co.uk
18th December 2018
The Asian state plans to spend 25.5 trillion yen (£180 billion) on military equipment over the next five years, 6.4% higher than the previous five-year plan.
The plans are the clearest indication yet of Japan’s ambition to become a regional power as a military build-up by China and a resurgent Russia puts pressure on its US ally.
“The United States remains the world’s most powerful nation, but national rivalries are surfacing and we recognise the importance of the strategic competition with both China and Russia as they challenge the regional order,” said a 10-year defence programme outline approved by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government today.
The United States, followed by China, North Korea and Russia, are the countries that most influenced Japan’s latest military thinking, the paper said.
China, the world’s second biggest economy, is deploying more ships and aircraft to patrol waters near Japan, while North Korea has yet to fulfil a pledge to dismantle its nuclear and missile programmes.
Russia, which continues to probe Japanese air defences, said on Monday it had built new barracks for troops on a northern island it captured from Japan at the end of World War Two.
Japan plans to buy 45 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 stealth fighters, worth about $4 billion (£3.2 billion), in addition to the 42 jets already on order, according to a separate five-year procurement plan.
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