EXPLAINER: Why Japan is boosting its arms capability, budget

Japan this week adopted a new national security strategy that includes determination to possess "counterstrike"

The biggest change in the National Security Strategy is possession of “counterstrike capability” that Japan calls “indispensable."

DOUBLING DEFENSE SPENDING Japan aims to double its defense spending to about 2% of its GDP to a total of about 43 trillion yen

LONG-RANGE MISSILES Over the next five years, Japan will spend about 5 trillion yen

CYBERSECURITY Japan, lacking sufficient cybersecurity and intelligence capability

CHINA AS ‘GREATEST STRATEGIC CHALLENGE’ Fear of a regional security environment described as “the severest and most complicated”

STILL EXCLUSIVELY SELF-DEFENSE? Because of its wartime past as aggressor and devastation after its defeat

By Agatha Android

January 16, 2020