Japan’s new prime minister, Takaichi Sanae, said in her first major policy speech on Friday that she plans to increase defense spending and accelerate Japan’s military buildup to meet rising threats from China, North Korea, and Russia.
Takaichi said her government will complete the current program for increasing defense spending to two percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by March 2026, well ahead of the original schedule for completing the upgrade by 2027.
This will clear the way for Japan to prepare a new strategy document before the end of 2026 that could strengthen the military even further – a dramatic increase in tempo from Tokyo’s previous schedule of going eight to ten years between national security strategies.
“The free, open and stable international order that we were accustomed to is violently shaken in the face of historic change of power balance and intensifying geopolitical competitions,” the prime minister told her parliament on Friday.
“In the region around Japan, military activities and other actions from our neighbors China, North Korea and Russia are causing grave concerns. Japan needs to proactively push for its fundamental buildup of its defense power,” she elaborated.
Takaichi’s policy speech laid out sound reasons for increased defense spending from Tokyo’s perspective, but it is clear that pressure from the United States is a factor, as well. Takaichi will host President Donald Trump during a three-day visit to Japan next week, with trade and defense on the agenda for their meetings.
President Trump wants Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan to increase their defense spending to five percent of GDP so they can reduce their dependence on American forces. Such an increase would give all three countries greater ability to help each other in the event of a mutual threat, most obviously including China invading Taiwan.
Japan’s economic strength means tripling its defense budget to five percent of GDP, which would give it almost $200 billion to spend, enough to finance superior aircraft and missile defenses for its outlying islands, develop long-range force projection platforms like submarines – possibly even nuclear submarines – and integrate the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) more fully with American and allied forces.
On Friday, Japanese Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro made a surprise announcement that plans are in the works for U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to visit Japan along with Trump next week.
“Personally, I would like to have an opportunity to meet with Secretary Hegseth as soon as possible to further develop the Japan-U.S. alliance, and I would like to build a strong personal relationship of trust with him,” Koizumi said.
Kyodo News on Friday quoted sources who said Hegseth could be in Tokyo on Wednesday, the day after Takaichi is scheduled to meet with Trump. According to these sources, the Trump administration is pushing a plan for Japan to increase defense spending to 3.5 percent of GDP – considerably higher than the 2% planned by March 2026, but lower than Trump’s earlier request of 5 percent.
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