Japanese PM on latest defence, birth rate policies

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that Japan faces the severest security environment in the region since the end of World War II. In his policy speech opening this year’s parliamentary session, Kishida pledged to push a military build-up under a newly adopted security strategy over the next five years and beyond, as well as tackle rapidly declining births. 

Under the new strategies, Japan plans to nearly double its defence budget within five years to 332 billion USD and improve cyberspace and intelligence capabilities. The country’s population of more than 125 million has been declining for 14 years and is projected to fall to 86.7 million by 2060.

Kishida pledged to bolster financial support for families with children, including more scholarships, and said he would compile a set of measures of “different dimensions.”