Japan's defense budget hits record 6.8 tril. yen in policy shift

Japan approved Friday a record-high 6.8 trillion yen ($51 billion) draft defense budget for fiscal 2023 after pledging to acquire capabilities to strike other countries in a major policy shift under the country's war-renouncing Constitution.The draft initial budget for the next fiscal year that starts in April, including outlays linked to hosting U.S. military bases, is up 26.3 percent from 5.4 trillion yen in the current fiscal year, rising for the 11th straight year.With Japan facing growingly severe security challenges from China, North Korea and Russia, the nation earlier this month rev…READ FULL ARTICLE