Japan to spend more on defence, refit first aircraft carrier
TOKYO — Japan plans its first aircraft carrier and big increases in defence spending and weapons capability in the coming years, according to new defence guidelines approved Tuesday that cite its need to counter potential threats from North Korea and China and other vulnerabilities.
The guidelines approved at a meeting of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet call for refitting an existing helicopter carrier into a ship that can deploy expensive, U.S.-made F-35B stealth fighters capable of short takeoffs and vertical landings. Japan plans to buy 147 F-35s, including 42 F-35Bs, over the next decade.
The guidelines would replace the current defence plan halfway through its intended lifespan and underscore Abe’s push to expand Japan’s military role and capability to make it, as he puts it, “a normal country.” He has long wanted to revise Japan’s U.S.-drafted constitution that renounces war and has already broadened the concept of self-defence to allow Japanese personnel to defend allied military forces as Japan increasingly works alongside American troops.
Defence officials say Japan needs higher deterrence and increased missile defence and fighter capability as North Korea’s missile and nuclear threats remains unchanged in the absence of concrete steps to dismantle them, and China’s maritime activity has grown increasingly assertive. The new guidelines say Japan needs to be well-prepared and to show it can withstand threats, noting the archipelago is prone to natural disasters and its coastline is dotted with vulnerable nuclear power plants.