opinion

In late April, the Japanese defence minister said that Japan’s defence expenses and related expenses in 2024 amounted to ￥8.9 trillion, about 1.6 percent of GDP. According to him, the Japanese authorities will increase the defence expenses up to the level of 2 percent of GDP in 2027 for the fundamental strengthening of the defence capabilities.

The Japanese defence minister at a press conference said that the defence expenses of the original budget for 2024 are ￥7.7 trillion and the related expenses ￥1.2 trillion. The budget is being implemented smoothly, he said, adding that in order to strengthen the overall defence system, he will build relevant solidarity between the Defence Ministry and the the Defence Equipment Agency.

Japan’s defence budget for 2024 increased by 16.9 percent over last year, the record high in ten years.

In the past, the Japanese authorities talked glibly about “exclusive defence using defence capability only against attack and maintenance of defence capability whereby the defence expenses are limited mainly to 1 percent of GDP”.

But now it has been reduced to empty talk. 

Last year, too, the Japanese authorities decided to increase the total military expenditure for 2023-2027 by nearly 1.6 times more than that for 2019-2023, thus breaking the annually renewed record of the military expenditure again. They also decided to double military spending in 2027.

The economy of Japan has remained sluggish for decades. In this regard, a foreign radio company commented that if Japan is engrossed in increasing military spending sharply, nothing will save Japan. 

Although the country’s difficult economic situation compels it to allocate large funds for perk-up, the Japanese authorities decided on the biggest-ever military spending. This is a revelation of their sinister attempt to realize their wild ambition for reinvasion at any cost by spurring the arms build-up for securing the capability for preemptive strike while talking about “threat” from someone.

Their increasing of defence spending disturbing regional peace and security is sparking protest and denunciation of the neighbouring countries.

Previously a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of China said that the Japanese authorities’ decision makes the neighbouring Asian countries and the international community much doubt that Japan would sincerely maintain the principle of “exclusive defence” and advance toward peaceful development, stressing that Japan should seriously reflect on its history of aggression.

The vice-minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia also said that the Japanese authorities’ measures for switching over to the track of proactive militarization include the large-scale military exercises conducted near the Russian borders with the involvement of forces from outside the region, the adoption of the new plan for defence and security with attack capability and an unprecedented increase in military expenditure. If Japan continues to follow such a track, Russia would inevitably be compelled to take countermeasures to eliminate the military threat against it, he added.

In Japan, there are voiced such protests and denunciations as “Though the people are subjected to hardship due to price hikes, the ‘defence spending’ has reached astronomical figures” and “Do you forget Japan’s past lesson?” 

If Japan, a war criminal state, is going to emerge as a warlike state with huge armed forces and latest military hardware while being hell-bent on realizing a wild ambition for reinvasion, oblivious of the history of defeat, it will hasten its ruin again. 

Those who like playing with fire are destined to be burnt to death.