Research
Menu
COVID-19 Notice: To protect the health of our team and our community, Stimson Center staff are working remotely. The Stimson office is closed to all visitors. All public events are now online. Staff remain available via email, phone, and video conference. During this time, the Stimson Center will continue its important work, informing policymakers and the public — here, on social media, and via email.
THE STIMSON CENTER
Engaging new voices, generating innovative ideas and analysis, and building solutions to promote international security, prosperity, and justice.
Engaging new voices, generating innovative ideas and analysis, and building solutions to promote international security, prosperity, and justice.
Copyright The Henry L. Stimson Center
All About the Yen: Japan Begins Mid-Term Defense Planning
On June 20, the Research Committee on Security (Anzen Hosho Chosa-kai) within Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) released an interim report with recommendations for Japan’s next Mid-Term Defense Program (MTDP) for fiscal years 2019-2023. The committee, led by former Deputy Minister of Defense Hiroshi Imazu, is aiming to announce its final report by spring of 2018.
Two recommendations in the interim report attracted particular attention. First, the interim report supported one of the key recommendations put forward by the LDP’s Policy Affairs Research Council in March, namely that the Japanese government begin to discuss the option of acquiring “enemy counter-attack capability.” In addition, the report recommended that Japan use NATO countries’ benchmark for defense expenditures —2 percent of gross domestic production (GDP) — as “a point of reference” as Japan considers the appropriate level of spending for its own defense. Other areas that the interim report identified as priorities include the possible acquisition of indigenously-developed military surveillance satellites and the development of offensive cyber capabilities in the Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF).
This article was originally published in The Diplomat on June 23, 2017. Read the full article here.