Cheered by U.S., Japan is breaking away from its pacifist constitution with record military spending
2023-12-25 09:05:05 source：CGTN
December 24, 2023
Two of the world's largest military spenders, the U.S. and Japan, simultaneously greenlighted their defense budgets for 2024 at record-breaking highs on Friday.
U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law the U.S. defense policy bill which authorized a record $886 billion in annual military spending on Friday. The National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which is nearly 3,100 pages long, calls for a 5.2 percent pay rise for service members and increases the nation's total national security budget by about 3 percent.
Meanwhile Japan, historically constrained by its pacifist constitution adopted after surrendering in WWII, is now embarking on a record military expansion on the same day. The country's cabinet on Friday approved a hefty 16-percent increase in military spending for 2024 and eased its postwar ban on lethal weapons export, underscoring a shift away from the country's self-defense-only principle.
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https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-12-24/U-S-and-Japan-approve-record-breaking-military-budgets-for-2024--1pNffpaQ4Ew/p.html