TOKYO: Japan’s defence ministry on Monday made its biggest ever budget request, as Tokyo bolsters its military amid lingering territorial rows and worries over China’s expanding naval reach.

The ministry wants 5.09 trillion yen ($42bn) for the next fiscal year, with the focus on strengthening protection of a string of southern islands that stretch from Japan’s mainland to waters near Taiwan.

The request, if approved, would mark the fourth straight annual defence budget increase and a 2.2 per cent rise from the budget for the current fiscal year, which ends in March 2016.

The trend reflects Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s attempt to build a more active military, with an eye on a possible escalation of tensions with China.

He is also pushing to tweak Japan’s pacifist constitution, changes that could see troops engage in combat for the first time since the end of World War II.

The bid has proved deeply unpopular at home and sparked a protest by tens of thousands outside parliament on Sunday.

Abe’s defence efforts have also provoked unease in China and South Korea, which were victims of Japan’s aggressive military campaigns through the end of World War II.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2015

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