Germany and Japan are injecting needed spine into the security posture of America’s allies. But where is Canada?
Shortly after Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared that, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany would bolster defence spending for national and regional security, the Japanese government released its long-awaited military strategy for the next decade.
Japan labelled China as its “biggest security challenge” and declared that it would increase military spending dramatically to US$51.4 billion in 2023 and a total of US$318 billion over five years “to deal with the most severe and complex security environment since World War II.” This marks a significant shift from its military’s previous defensive-only postwar posture.
Japan’s plan to commit to spending about two per cent of GDP within five years is aimed specifically at purchasing and developing missiles with an expanded range that would enable it to hit such targets as China if it concludes an enemy has an attack in the works.
The proposed budget cited specifically Japan’s decision to build its own long-range missiles and buy 500 U.S.-made Tomahawks in the interim, providing a major advance in counterstrike capability.
For the rest of this column: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/japan-ups-the-ante-on-defence-spending