The United States has demanded that its Asia-Pacific allies, including Japan, increase their respective defense spending to 5 pct of each country’s gross domestic product, Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said Saturday.
The demand is much higher than the Japanese government’s target of raising its defense spending to 2 pct of GDP by fiscal 2027.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration had initially urged Japan to increase its defense spending to 3 pct of GDP.
Noting that NATO countries are discussing a goal of spending 5 pct of GDP on defense, Parnell said that allies in the Asia-Pacific region should catch up to that pace.
Parnell said that such a defense spending increase would benefit the security of the Asia-Pacific allies, and that a more balanced and fair cost-sharing scheme with them would be in the interest of U.S. citizens. He added that the president’s approach is based on this common-sense view.
