New PM pledges bigger arsenal for Japan

Spending on weapons and other defence equipment is pledged to be doubled in an election manifesto that confirms that Fumio Kishida, the new Japanese prime minister, is in thrall to right-wing nationalists.

The Liberal Democratic Party is expected to be re-elected at the end of the month but Mr Kishida appears to have ditched the liberal policies he once held.

Instead he has promoted measures to address the growing military threat from China and North Korea.

The party’s manifesto says: “As we can see from China’s rapid military expansion of armaments and military activities … and North Korea’s progress in nuclear missile development … the security environment is changing rapidly. Bearing in mind the target of national defence spending in NATO countries (2 per cent of GDP), we will aim at the increase of the defence budget.”

The government had maintained an unofficial cap on defence spending of 1 per cent of GDP. Doubling this is a longterm goal but would represent an increase of about $50bn a year. This would allow Japan to buy aircraft carriers, submarines, stealth fighters, drones, amphibious landing vessels, missile defence systems and surveillance satellites. The pledges confirm the impression that Mr Kishida, 64, has come under the thumb of the conservative wing led by Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister.

Mr Kishida had promised to build “a new form of capitalism” and a “virtuous cycle” of growth to reduce growing levels of inequality. He also pledged to double incomes.