Japan says no US demand for defence spending worth 3.5% of GDP

[TOKYO] Japan denied a report that the US directly asked Tokyo to raise its defence spending to 3.5 per cent of annual gross domestic product, with its top government spokesperson saying that the amount of spending was less important than how Japan raises its military capabilities.

“Regarding defence spending, there’s no truth to that,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a press conference on Monday (Jun 23) when asked about a Financial Times (FT) report that a senior Pentagon official had told Japan to boost military spending.

The comments come as US President Donald Trump’s administration ramps up pressure on its allies to boost defence spending amid mounting global security concerns. Tensions continue to build with conflict in the Middle East intensifying, Russia’s war in Ukraine rumbling on and China continuing to intimidate its neighbours through military activity.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a security conference in late May that US allies in Asia should boost total spending related to defence, warning that more urgency is needed to prepare for a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

“Nato members are pledging to spend 5 per cent of their GDP on defence – even Germany,” Hegseth said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. “So it doesn’t make sense for countries in Europe to do that while key allies in Asia spend less on defence.”

A Pentagon spokesperson told Japanese media outlets last week that the 5 per cent goal should apply to Japan.

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Nato countries formally approved the plan at their summit meeting over the week, setting a target for defence spending at 5 per cent of GDP. Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte has framed that target as spending of 3.5 per cent on core defence items such as weapons, and an additional 1.5 per cent in defence-related spending such as cybersecurity and infrastructure.

In his comments, Hayashi also pushed back against the FT’s claim that Tokyo scrapped a meeting of US-Japan defence and foreign affairs ministers in response to the US demand. “The date for the next Japan-US 2+2 meeting has yet to be decided,” the spokesperson said.

According to the FT report, Tokyo decided to put off that meeting after the spending demand from a senior Pentagon official. That demand, reportedly issued by Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of defence for policy, comes as Japan is working towards raising its defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP by 2027 from its long-held stance of keeping it around 1 per cent. BLOOMBERG