Japan's new leader vows to further boost defense spending as regional tensions rise

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TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, in her first major policy speech on Friday, pledged to further accelerate Japan’s military buildup and spending and complete an early upgrade of the country’s security strategy as tensions rise with China, North Korea and Russia.

Takaichi took office Tuesday after being elected Japan’s first female leader. That ended months of a political vacuum amid power struggles within her party following consecutive election defeats that led to the ruling coalition's loss of a majority in both houses of parliament.

Takaichi said Friday her government will hit an annual military spending target of 2% of gross domestic product by March, instead of by 2027 under the initial plan. She will revise the security strategy early and have it ready by the end of 2026, she said. Japan used to revise its strategy about once a decade, the last time in December 2022.

Japan will upgrade its strategy early due to a change in the security environment, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Middle East conflict, she said.

“The free, open and stable international order that we were accustomed to is violently shaken in the face of historic change of power balance and intensifying geopolitical competitions,” Takaichi said in her speech at parliament. “In the region around Japan, military activities and other actions from our neighbors China, North Korea and Russia are causing grave concerns.”

“Japan needs to proactively push for its fundamental buildup of its defense power,” she said.

Her pledge Friday comes days before U.S. President Donald Trump’s Oct. 27-29 visit to Tokyo for a summit, where she is expected to face tough demands from Trump, such as a further increase in Japan’s defense spending and more purchases of costly American weapons. Her meeting with Trump is part of a major diplomatic test that also includes two regional summits.

Takaichi said she plans to discuss with Trump further strengthening the Japan-U.S. alliance while fostering the two sides' personal relationship based on trust.

She noted that Japan needs to establish a constructive and stable relationship with China, but that there are “security concerns” between the two sides.

Her hawkish politics and views of wartime history, as well as her past regular visits to Yasukuni Shrine, which Asian victims of Japan's colonial-era atrocities view as a lack of remorse, could undermine Tokyo's relations with Beijing, experts say.

The upgrading of the security strategy may involve more offensive military roles for Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, further easing of restrictions on arms exports and increased military spending, but she did not elaborate on how she plans to fund them.

To achieve any of her pledges or policies, her minority government needs cooperation from the opposition.

Her immediate task at home is to tackle rising prices and sagging wages, and win back support from conservatives.

Her Liberal Democratic Party’s new ruling alliance with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party, which replaces an earlier coalition with the dovish centrist Komeito, has raised concerns about Japan’s further shift to the right.

Takaichi said Japan needs foreign workers to make up for the shortage of labor in the country, which has a rapidly aging and declining population, but only by allowing those who follow the rules.

“It is a fact that unlawful activity and violation of rules by some foreigners are causing the sense of unease and unfairness among Japanese people,” Takaichi said. “The government will respond decisively to these activities. It's not xenophobia.”

Takaichi assigned Economic Security Minister Kimi Onoda to step up regulations on foreigners in Japan to “enforce compliance” and study possible regulations on land purchases by foreigners, many of them Chinese.

The move caters to some of the frustrated Japanese who are inspired by the “Japanese First” platform by the far-right Sanseito party. The populist surge comes as Japan, a traditionally insular nation that values conformity and uniformity, sees a record surge of foreigners needed to bolster its shrinking workforce.

Government statistics show crime rates among foreigners in Japan have fallen while their population has surged.