Japan, Taiwan increasing military spending to counter China

While much of the world focuses on the war in Ukraine, in the Pacific, the focus is squarely on China. Because of China’s saber-rattling on Taiwan, Japan is committing more money to increase its military spending while Taiwan could get billions in defense funding from the United States.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, many Japanese began drawing comparisons to China. Fumio Kishida, Japan’s prime minister, has said several times, “Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow.”

Japan has been a mostly pacifist country since World War II, but recent polling shows most Japanese are in favor of increasing military spending. Japan’s ruling party wants to increase military spending to 2% of GDP, bringing it in line with the NATO standard.

One senior politician in Japan told The Economist that the country’s current, meager levels of military spending will make it hard to gain Western support in the event of Chinese military action.

Taiwan seems to be gaining Western support, though. After U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s visit this summer, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted this week on a bill to send Taiwan $4.5 billion for defense over the next four years. The bill calls for engaging with the democratically elected government of Taiwan. The bill would still need to pass through Congress before it goes to President Biden.

Biden said he agrees with parts of the legislation but some sections would go against the “One-China” policy.

For its part, Beijing filed a diplomatic complaint with the U.S. about the bill. A spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry said if the bill becomes law, there would be extreme consequences for U.S.-China relations and for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.