Japan's defense budget request hits record high

Japan's Ministry of Defense on Monday submitted a record fiscal year 2027 budget request of roughly 8.9 trillion yen ($55.6 billion), marking yet another increase in defense spending and underscoring the accelerating pace of Japan's military buildup, experts said.

They warned that the move reflects a profound shift in the country's national security strategy, as Tokyo continues to expand its military capabilities. This trajectory risks heightening regional tensions and undermining peace and stability.

Under its five-year defense strategy set in 2022, Japan has doubled its defense spending to about 2 percent of its gross domestic product to expand its Self-Defense Forces' offensive role and address what it calls "China's growing assertiveness".

Japan now aims to "drastically strengthen its deterrence and response capability by transforming its defense capability" by adapting to new methods of warfare such as using drones that have been deployed in Ukraine, the ministry said in a pamphlet about its budget request.

The ministry plans to use attack drones alongside long-range missiles for more cost-effective counterstrikes. For the fiscal year beginning in April 2027, it is requesting an unspecified amount of funding to acquire unmanned attack drones for launch from above or underwater.

To further strengthen its counterstrike capability, the ministry is seeking to develop hypersonic missiles that can be launched from submarines.

In addition, the ministry plans to introduce an integrated artificial intelligence platform for command and control. Japan is considering using existing foreign AI technologies, including those of the United States, while also developing and strengthening domestically developed AI, or combining them, officials said.

Chen Hong, director of East China Normal University's Asia Pacific Studies Center in Shanghai, said the surge in Japan's military spending indicates that Tokyo is systematically accelerating the transformation of its defense strategy and force structure.

"Japan is accelerating its shift from a traditional focus on homeland defense toward long-range strike and unmanned combat capabilities. The expanding range and operational scope of its military capabilities raise concerns about the trajectory of its military buildup and warrant vigilance from countries in the region," he said.

Chen noted that, in recent years, Japan has increasingly exaggerated China's normal national defense development and military activities, repeatedly promoting the "China threat" narrative.

Loosening curbs

"By portraying China as a growing security threat, Tokyo has sought to justify its sharp increase in military spending and create political conditions for loosening longstanding restrictions on its defense and security policies," he said.

Japan has increasingly moved beyond the traditional framework of its exclusively defense-oriented security policy and is accelerating its remilitarization, driving a fundamental shift in its military posture from a primarily defensive force toward one equipped with increasingly sophisticated offensive and counterstrike capabilities, said Liu Shuliang, an associate researcher at the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences.

He said Japan's push to transform its military capabilities in response to "new ways of warfare", with AI and drones among its key priorities, indicates that Tokyo is seeking to keep pace with the global transformation of military technologies while rapidly expanding its offensive capabilities.

"This reflects its broader ambition to become a major military power and shed the constraints traditionally associated with a defense-oriented posture. The development also illustrates how advances in military technology can be used as a pretext for accelerating military buildup and expansion," Liu said.

The widespread deployment of AI-enabled and unmanned weapons could lower the threshold for military conflict and increase the risk of miscalculation and unintended escalation, he added.

He noted that while the Japanese government continues to emphasize external security threats, the country also faces pressing domestic challenges, including an aging population, rising social security costs and mounting public debt.

"This means that Japan is reshaping its national resource allocation priorities, increasingly placing military expansion ahead of efforts to address pressing domestic social challenges. Such a choice could not only exacerbate social tensions at home but also heighten regional tensions and undermine peace and stability," he said.

Japan is accelerating its "remilitarization" and moving toward a new form of militarism. The dangers posed by this trajectory are increasingly evident to its neighbors, potentially creating a cycle of military buildup and heightened tensions in the region, Chen said.

"This could further heighten tensions in Northeast Asia, fuel a regional arms race, and undermine peace and stability in the region," he said.

Agencies contributed to this story.

liujianqiao@chinadaily.com.cn