Japan considers boosting defense spending to 3.5% of GDP

The Trump administration has pushed Tokyo to reduce its reliance on US support, despite rising tensions between Japan and China. Japan is reportedly considering boosting defense spending to 3.5% of GDP as it looks to respond to pressure from Washington and strengthen its security in the face of rising tensions across East Asia. The Trump administration has pushed Tokyo to reduce its reliance on US support, a move that has rattled policymakers there as well as across Asia, seeing it as evidence of waning American commitment. In a sign of shifting attitudes in Japan, voters in the southern island of Okinawa — home to 70% of the US military presence in the country — recently ousted a governor who opposed Tokyo’s militarization. Taboos are falling elsewhere: Some Japanese policymakers have begun to reconsider the country’s ban on nuclear weapons.