Japan MP in Taiwan says ‘China threat’ needs more military spending

A Japanese lawmaker has said that Tokyo needs to increase its military spending to arm its forces against the threat posed by China.

Koichi Hagiuda, a senior member of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and a former industry minister, said on Sunday during a visit to Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) that the “grim reality” of the threat called for more military spending.

It is a "grim reality" that we feel the necessity for arming in order to defend ourselves against a possible military threat from China or North Korea, Hagiuda said.  

⚡️ Reuters: Japan needs to increase its military spending in the face of the "grim reality" of the threat from China and North Korea, a senior member of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party said on Sunday during a visit to Taiwan.

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"Japan has walked the path of peace since the war, and will continue to do so. However just reciting the word peace is not enough ... we want to make potential aggressors think they should quit. In order to do that, what is important is to show clearly that we have sufficient prowess," he said.

Hagiuda also pointed to what he claimed was China’s massive increase in its military spending, as well as North Korean missile tests, as reasons to increase Japan's military budget.

"China has, over the past 30 years, increased military spending by close to 40 times. North Korea has this year conducted missile launches in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions with unprecedented frequency. In the face of this grim reality, half measures in response have absolutely no meaning," he argued.

In the meantime, Tokyo is preparing its 2023 budget. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has already announced plans to increase the military budget to an amount equivalent to 2 percent of gross domestic product within five years, from 1 percent now.

That would take Japan’s annual defense budget to more than 11 trillion yen (US$80.55 billion) from 5.4 trillion yen currently, giving the country the world’s third-largest military budget after the United States and China at their current levels.

Meanwhile, critics say the US is raking in a huge fortune by profiteering from conflicts around the world, with American-owned arms manufacturers being among the biggest winners.

US major weapons manufacturers, namely, Raytheon Technologies, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics, provide weapons to countries across the globe, making a great deal of money from all over the world by taking advantage of wars and conflicts.

According to a report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) global military spending passed $2 trillion in 2021.

Read more:
World military spending tops $2 trillion for first time

In this regard, the United States and its military-industrial complex, as the largest arms exporter globally, is in a position to reap more profits from global conflict.

To make the most profits possible, the US has been constantly increasing tension and fanning the flames of crises across the globe.

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