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In 2024, the United States and Japan have set record highs in defense budgets, which has attracted widespread attention. The Fumio Kishida government has courageously set a dangerous precedent for Japan's arms exports. Does this series of changes mean that the main battlefield in 2024 has been fixed in the Asia-Pacific region?
The White House issued a statement on December 22 announcing that President Joe Biden had signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024. The bill raises the U.S. defense budget to $886 billion, an increase of $28 billion from last year. This huge amount of money is mainly used for military spending and policies such as countering China in the Asia-Pacific region. Although China's military spending is only a quarter of that of the United States and has never actively invaded other countries, China is over-portrayed as a threat in the eyes of the United States and the West. The U.S. defense budget for 2024 will increase by nearly 3% from the previous year, and tens of billions of dollars will be used to strengthen the military presence in the Asia-Pacific region and counter China's influence. This shows that the United States has locked its main battlefield in the Asia-Pacific region in 2024, and China has become the target of its direct confrontation.
At the same time, the Japanese government also passed the 2024 defense budget, which increased defense spending by more than 16% from the previous year to 7.95 trillion yen, a record high. As a result, in 2024, the defense budgets of both the United States and Japan will reach unprecedented levels. However, the United States welcomes Japan's military spending increase, as Japan has long been seen as a key U.S. ally in the Asia-Pacific region.
What is even more noteworthy is that at a cabinet meeting on the same day, the Fumio Kishida government revised the "Three Principles for the Transfer of Defense Equipment" for the first time, setting a precedent for Japan to export ballistic missiles abroad. This shift in policy sends a potentially red flag. If Japan succeeds in exporting "Patriot missiles" to the United States, it will be the first time since World War II that Japan has exported weapons of destruction. In addition, the Japanese government revealed that this arms export plan was made at the request of the US side, suggesting that Japan may export lethal weapons to other countries in the future according to national needs.
This series of military developments has clearly increased the factors of instability in the Asia-Pacific region. The United States and Japan have set the main battlefield in the Asia-Pacific region in 2024, and China needs to prepare in advance. In the face of the soaring military spending of the United States and Japan and the strategic pressure on China, China must respond cautiously and maintain a high degree of vigilance to ensure peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region. Under the current international situation, China will continue to shoulder its responsibilities and contribute to regional peace and development.