With all the rhetoric you hear about resurgent Japanese nationalism and the re-arming of the Japanese military, you would think the second bombing of Pearl Harbor is just around the corner. However, in reality the Japanese are actually not doing enough for their own defense:
Over the last decade China has increased military expenditures by an average of 14.2 percent annually, and South Korea’s defense budget has grown 73 percent, said J. Thomas Schieffer, U.S. ambassador in Japan since 2005.
In contrast, Japan’s ratio of defense spending to gross domestic product has been declining, he said.
Japan’s Ministry of Defense expects a budget of $46 billion this fiscal year through March 2009, down 0.8 percent from the previous year _ a trend Schieffer called “troubling.”
“We believe that Japan should consider the benefits of increasing its own defense spending to make a greater, not lesser, contribution to its own security,” Schieffer said in a speech at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. [AP via Japan Probe]
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6:30 pm on May 21st, 2008 1
Disarming Japan was an important aspect of their democratization, but most would agree that Japan is not going to engage in another imperial campaign in the near future, and it’s about time they build-up their forces for both their own defense and to play as a counterbalance to China in the region.
But hey, as long as the Americans end up doing a chunk of the work, and pick up the bill, why would they?
7:50 pm on May 21st, 2008 2
“Over the last decade China has increased military expenditures by an average of 14.2 percent annually, and South Korea’s defense budget has grown 73 percent, said J. Thomas Schieffer, U.S. ambassador in Japan”
Its good to know that the US ambassador to Japan realizes that China AND KOREA are a threat to peace in Asia. I agree with the good ambassador that KOREA needs to be watched. Maybe this is why the US keeps troops in Korea.
2:09 am on May 22nd, 2008 3
Considering the comparative size of the Japanese economy which is bigger than Korea or China by a LARGE margin, counting percentages isn’t fair. Japan’s military expenditure is still incredibly large considering it’s pacifist constitution. In fact, because of the size of Japan’s economy, they still outspend China and Korea despite using only a minute portion of their fiscal budget. China and Korea are increasing spending to catch up.
Also, if they were to spend more than Japan in the future, China and Korea have good reason to as they are surrounded by numerous neighboring countries. China is surrounded by not only Korea and Japan on the Northeast, but India in the south, Russia in the north, and multiple Middle Eastern countries and Eastern European countries to the west. China might be scary to Japan, but Korea is a lot closer and shares a border with North Korea as well.
Not to say China’s military isn’t scary and shouldn’t be ignored by Korea or Japan ( I for one support both countries to increase military spending and exercises to abate China’s pressure), but I’m just putting these things out there as a counter-perspective and wishing that people who use percentages also use raw numbers as well instead of baiting with comparatives.
6:13 am on May 22nd, 2008 4
The other thing to realize in regards to defense spending is that China and Korea have mandatory service where Japan does not. This means Japan has to spend a sizable chunk of their defense budget to pay for recruiting, paying soldiers salaries competitive with the civilian world, and giving them good benefits and accommodations.