Japan seeks to counter China with biggest military spending increase in eight years

Japan’s defence ministry is seeking an annual budget increase that will add to past years’ hikes to expand military spending over a decade by almost one-sixth, as it looks to counter the growing strength of neighbouring China.Since last year, Japan has identified China as its main national security threat, pointing in a July policy paper to a “sense of crisis” over Beijing’s threat to Taiwan, which lies close to Japanese islands along the edge of the East China Sea.The ministry’s budget…