18 October 2021

Japan's LDP vows to double defence spending amid ‘increasingly severe security environment'

by Kosuke Takahashi & Gabriel Dominguez

Ahead of Japan's upcoming general election on 31 October, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has pledged in its manifesto to double the country's defence spending from 1% to 2% of GDP in reaction to what it described as an “increasingly severe security environment” around Japan.

The party said that it will “drastically reconsider” the country's response to China's growing assertiveness across the Taiwan Strait and the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands – which are controlled by Tokyo, but also claimed by Beijing – as well as to the growing nuclear and missile threat posed by North Korea.

Ahead of Japan's upcoming general election on 31 October, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) ...

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