Japan’s budget for the coming fiscal year provides a record 6.8 trillion yen ($50 billion) in defense spending, up 20% from a year earlier. Milley also addressed the most recent missile test-launch by North Korea, a solid-fuel ICBM that he said “clearly demonstrates an intent to develop a capability to strike the continental United States.” While not providing specifics about the North’s missile program, he said: “It has our attention.” Japanese soldiers overran much of Asia in the years leading up to World War II, and the nation is still viewed with anger by many in surrounding nations because of a perception that it hasn’t been fully repentant. Japan, meanwhile, has long wrestled with the need for a strong military amid domestic and regional wariness about anything seen as overly aggressive. Washington wants its allies, particularly in Tokyo and Seoul, to do more. troops in Japan and South Korea, and rising military moves by North Korea and China, the possibility of war in the region has become a growing worry.

military analysis of an increasingly unstable security situation in northeast Asia. ambassador’s residence in downtown Tokyo provide an explicit U.S. Milley’s comments to reporters at the U.S. That “could become very unstable it could become very dangerous, and I think having a powerful Japan, a militarily capable Japan that has a close alliance with the United States and other countries, will go a long way to deterring war,” Milley said. mainland and China’s increasing aggression against Taiwan, the democratic island that Beijing claims as its own.Ĭhina has “invested enormously in their military” and aspires to be “the regional hegemon in all of Asia, really probably in the next 10 to 15 years,” Milley said. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, mentioned Japan’s need for improvements in cruise missile defense, early warning missile systems and air capabilities, all of which would help the United States as it looks to counter North Korea’s push for a nuclear missile program capable of pinpoint-targeting the U.S.

military officer on Friday encouraged Japan’s commitment to doubling its defense spending over the next five years, calling Tokyo’s controversial push for a stronger military crucial to confront rising threats from North Korea and China.

Chief architect lighting library