Image source: topwar.ru
Against the background of the aggravation of the situation around Taiwan and the periodic launches of North Korean missiles, Japan is increasingly paying attention to strengthening its military forces. It is obvious that this is being done at the instigation of Washington and not so much because of the DPRK as to counter Beijing.
According to the Japanese news agency Kyodo, today the country's parliament approved the budget for the next fiscal year, which provides for record expenditures of more than 114 trillion yen (approximately $ 870 billion).
This decision was made as part of the course taken by the Japanese government to significantly strengthen the country's defense capability for five years.
The publication notes that the increase in budget expenditures is primarily associated with an increase in defense spending, which will amount to about 7 trillion yen (more than $ 52 billion). Approximately $1.6 billion is planned to be allocated for the purchase of Tomahawk cruise missiles from the United States.
It is expected that military spending will amount to more than 1% of the country's GDP, which was previously considered the limit for this budget item in Japan. And this is despite the fact that the budget itself is in deficit – more than 35 trillion yen (more than $ 270 billion) is missing, and the country's public debt is twice as high as GDP.
