June 30, 2016
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2016 June 29 - July 5 [POLITICS]
JCP does not call for abolition of defense budget |
The SDF’s food and personnel expenses account for 42.5% of the defense budget for fiscal 2016. The JCP has never demanded a reduction in such expenses or the abolition of the defense budget itself.
Since the Abe government took power at the end of 2012, the defense budget has increased every year and it topped five trillion yen for the first time in fiscal 2016.
The main factor of the swelled defense budget is the cost of purchasing weapons which will be used by SDF troops dispatched abroad. The JCP is pushing the government to cut such purchase expenses and use the money to improve the nation’s social security.
While enforcing the unconstitutional national security legislation which enables the SDF to join in U.S.-led wars abroad, the Abe administration is promoting the introduction of military equipment which is particularly useful in attacking foreign countries. The equipment includes F-35 stealth fighters, the reconnaissance drone Global Hawk, and the vertical take-off and landing aircraft V-22 Osprey, whose total cost amounts to nearly 400 billion yen in fiscal 2016.
Along with the above-mentioned items, the defense budget for this fiscal year allocates 170.7 billion yen for constructing a U.S. military base in Okinawa’s Henoko coastal district and 193.3 billion yen for the “sympathy budget” for U.S. troops stationed in Japan.
The JCP considers that the existence of the SDF goes against Japan’s war-renouncing Constitution. However, the dissolution of the SDF is a future issue which would be resolved step by step based on national consensus. PM Abe should stop his misinformation campaign against the JCP.
Past related article:
> JCP is supported by funding from individual donors [November 29, 2016]
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