Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru speaks at a press conference at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo on December 24.
Kyodo news agency reported on December 27 that the Japanese government has just approved a draft fiscal 2025 budget with a record level of 115.54 trillion yen (18.65 million billion VND), due to social security and defense spending. continue to increase.
The fiscal year budget from April 2025 given the green light by the cabinet above includes 8,700 billion yen in defense spending. This budget also includes social security spending of about 38,300 billion yen, up from 37,700 billion yen in the current fiscal year. Japan’s fiscal 2024 budget is 112,570 billion yen.
Japan’s Ministry of Defense said the country is facing “the harshest and most complex security environment” since World War 2, echoing Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru’s warning.
The defense budget, marking its 13th consecutive year of increases, includes the cost of mass-producing long-range or beyond enemy defense missiles. In addition, the budget also funds measures to attract recruitment to the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF), improving the relationship between the US and JSDF with the people of Okinawa.
In addition, the budget also invests in collecting satellite information about ballistic missiles, such as those launched by North Korea, and the movement of ships around Japan, including areas dispute with China.
What weapons does Japan want with its record defense budget proposal?
To stimulate the economy, the budget funds the semiconductor industry, artificial intelligence (AI) and other fields, with 100 billion yen for domestic chip manufacturing joint venture Rapidus Corp.
Interest payments and other debt repayment costs also reached a record 28,220 billion yen, reflecting rising long-term interest rates as the Bank of Japan seeks to further tighten monetary policy.
“Strengthening defense capabilities is something we are actively doing,” Mr. Ishiba said at an event organized by the newspaper. Yomiuri held on December 26.
“Now, no matter how great our tanks or military vehicles are, it’s meaningless if we don’t have enough people to move them,” he added.
Another challenge facing Japan is an aging population due to a persistently low birth rate and a cautious approach to immigration, according to AFP. Japan is one of the societies with many elderly people and this year the proportion of people aged 65 and over reached a record level of 29.3%.
