Japan's Proposed $53Bln Military Budget Aims to 'Shape Country Into US Proxy'

The Japanese Defense Ministry's decision to ask for a record hike in military expenditure endangers peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, Brian Berletic, geopolitical analyst and former US marine, told Sputnik.

Japan's Defense Ministry has requested its largest-ever defense budget for fiscal year 2024 worth a whopping $53 billion, 12% higher than in 2023.

The budget includes money for the acquisition of 15 US-made fifth-generation F-35A and F-35B fighter jets, as well as an array of precision-guided missiles and ships to improve troop and equipment transportation. Notably, the F-35s have the capability of carrying out tactical nuclear bombings as well as conducting air-to-air missions and gathering intelligence.

In addition, the defense expenditures stipulate allocating sums for the construction of two Aegis-equipped destroyers and a new class of frigates plus the joint development with the US of the so-called Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI), designed to down hypersonic missiles. Aegis is the US-made ballistic missile defense system.

“Japan exists as a nation politically captured by Washington”, and Tokyo’s foreign policy “to a large degree is driven by American interests,” Brian Berletic told Sputnik.

He said that a record increase in Japanese military spending is aimed at “shaping the country into a formidable proxy the US can use versus a rising China Washington desperately seeks to encircle and contain.”

“By doing so, Japan jeopardizes its significant trade with China, whom it counts as one of its largest trade partners,” the former US marine pointed out.

When asked why Japan is seeking to ramp up the number of the F-35s in its arsenal, the analyst explained that “any potential conflict between the United States and China will primarily consist of naval and air assets” and that “by purchasing F-35 warplanes, Japan will have more of its own assets to commit to any joint operation it is involved in with the US against” the PRC.

“However, more than enhancing either Japan or America’s military capabilities, the purchase of large numbers of F-35 warplanes, manufactured by US-based Lockheed Martin, shifts Japanese resources away from the actual Japanese people, and into the accounts of US-based arms manufacturers,” Berletic stressed.

He added that countries of the Asia-Pacific region “may in many ways be concerned about Japanese militarization, considering the nation’s past.”

“Greater fear”, however, “likely stems from the reality that Japan’s modern militarization is driven by US geopolitical objectives and that these objectives directly threaten peace, stability, and thus prosperity in the region,” according to the analyst.

Berletic called this drive by the US part of “a wider effort to divide the region against China, which is the primary engine of economic growth and development.”

He also said that Japan’s increase in military spending is “fully a function of its subordination to the United States,” something that “diverts Japanese resources away from its own ability to fully benefit from Asia’s Chinese-driven growth.” The analyst suggested that Japan will not only be dependent on the US militarily, “it will remain physically occupied by the US and a captive of American foreign policy.”

“Japan will for the foreseeable future be brought in any direction Washington, not Tokyo wills, even if that direction contradicts Japan’s best interests or even its own self-preservation,” Berletic concluded.