[Epoch Times September 11, 2021](Epoch Times reporter Chen Ting comprehensive report) Japanese Prime Minister candidate Sanae Takaichi said that she supports doubling Japan’s defense spending to reach the level of Western countries. She emphasized that in the face of military threats from the CCP and North Korea, it is necessary to increase defense expenditures in order to defend Japan.
On Friday (September 10), Takaichi Sanae told reporters in the parliament building: “If we want to make (defense expenditure) consistent with Western countries, it must be raised to 2% of GDP, which is equivalent to 100,000. Billion yen (approximately 91 billion U.S. dollars).”
Previously, the Japanese government had always maintained the upper limit of defense spending at 1% of GDP. Currently, the Ministry of Defense of Japan proposes a budget for the next fiscal year, with defense expenditures of about 5.4 trillion yen. Although it is an increase of about 2.6% over the previous year, according to estimates by the Cabinet Office, this figure will account for about 0.97% of GDP in fiscal year 2022.
“Unless we make decisive investments where necessary, we will not be able to protect Japan,” said Sanae Takaichi.
At present, three presidents of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan have announced their candidacy. They are Taro Kono, Minister of Administrative Reform, Fumio Kishida, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Sanae Takaichi, former Minister of General Affairs. Since the Liberal Democratic Party holds a majority of seats in the National Assembly, being elected president of the party will logically become the next prime minister of Japan.
Takaichi Sanae received the support of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, successfully passed the threshold of 20 party recommenders, and officially announced his candidacy on Wednesday. This is the second time since Yuriko Koike, who was then a member of the House of Representatives, in 2008, there have been female congressmen participating in the election of the president of the Democratic Party.
If Takashi wins, she will become the first female Japanese prime minister.
The 60-year-old Takashi Sanae is a hardliner against the CCP within the Liberal Democratic Party. He advocates strengthening national defense and economic security to counter the increasingly aggressive CCP threat.
On Friday, Sanae Takaichi also mentioned to the media that she supports Japan in developing its ability to attack enemy bases as a means of national defense. Since Shinzo Abe came to power, relevant discussions have been going on, but the political circles have different views, and the issue has also been shelved by the Yoshihide Suga government.
Gao City believes that this issue should be “concluded as soon as possible.” She argued that Japan needs to legislate to authorize the use of electromagnetic waves and satellite weapons to paralyze enemy bases.
She said that Japan should be able to “use powerful electromagnetic waves and other methods to quickly paralyze the opponent’s base” to prevent Japan from being attacked and falling into a miserable situation, she said.
Prior to this, Takashi also mentioned to the media that Japan should strengthen its new-generation warfare capabilities and may also be attacked in the cyber and space fields.
“We need to prepare for a new type of war,” said Sanae Takaichi. “Our satellites may be attacked. Submarine cables may be cut. We should focus our resources on building national defense.”
In addition to cybersecurity, she also promised to establish a Japanese institution corresponding to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to prevent Japanese technology from leaking to competitors such as China.
On Saturday, the three people who formally announced that they were running for the president of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan appeared on television to promote their policies. Takashi Sanae stated on a TV program that she hopes to amend the Coast Guard Act to cope with the continuous entry of the CCP’s Coast Guard vessels into the territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands (the Chinese call the Diaoyu Islands, and Taiwan the Diaoyutai Islands).
Gao Shi said: “If the “Maritime Protection Law” is not amended, civilians and the staff and ships of the Maritime Protection Agency cannot be protected.” She believes that the current law’s standards for the use of weapons are too vague.
Editor in charge: Ye Ziwei
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