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Japan Cabinet OKs record defense budget amid China concern
FILE - In this April
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span class="inline inline-center">FILE - In this April. 10, 2012 file photo, a pleasure boat sails near a unit of Japan Air Self-Defense Force's PAC-3 surface to air missile deployed in Ishigaki Jima, Japan's southern most prefecture of Okinawa as Japan is on alert for North Korea's rocket expected to launch between April 12-16, 2012. Japan's deputy defense minister met with the mayor of the southern island Thursday to seek his support for a planned deployment of hundreds of troops to bolster defense in the region including nearby disputed East China Sea islands. Vice Minister of Defense Kenji Wakamiya was in Ishigaki to explain to mayor Yoshitaka Nakayama a plan to deploy about 500 ground troops on the island beginning in 2019, ministry officials said. (Kyodo News via AP, File) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT
Japan's Cabinet has approved a record-high military spending plan as Tokyo steps up cooperation with Washington amid China's increasingly assertive activity in regional seas.
The 5.1 trillion yen ($42.1 billion) budget proposal endorsed Wednesday is up 1.5 percent from this year. It would be the fourth annual increase under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who ended a decade of defense budget cuts.
The bill is part of the national budget plan for the year beginning April 2016. The plan requires parliamentary approval.
Japan is bolstering surveillance and defense of its southern islands, where it has a territorial dispute with China. The budget plan includes the purchase of surveillance aircraft, an advanced destroyer with missile-defense capability and F-35 fighter jets. It also includes submarine construction and sonar development. (dan)
