Japan approved Friday a record defense budget worth $56 billion for the next fiscal year, as tensions rise with China and North Korea.

The 7.95 trillion yen ($56 billion) draft budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year was approved by the cabinet, in line with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's pledge to raise defense spending over the next few years.

Japan has a pacifist post-war constitution, which limits its military capacity to ostensibly defensive measures.

But it updated key security and defense policies last year, explicitly outlining the challenge posed by China and setting a goal of doubling defense spending to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization standard of two percent of gross domestic product by 2027. 

The defense budget announced Friday includes 370 billion yen to build two new warships rigged with the United States-developed Aegis missile defense system.

Japan also plans to spend 734 billion yen to shore up the nation's "stand-off" defense capacity such as purchases of missiles.

And about 75 billion yen will be used for joint development of interceptors to shoot down hypersonic missiles.

The budget also includes costs Japan agreed to pay to the US over the relocation of American forces in Japan.       

WITH AFP