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WEKU
WEKU
Anthony Kuhn

Eyeing China, Japan lifts longtime restrictions to allow major defense buildup

Members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force disembark from a V-22 Osprey aircraft during a live-fire exercise at East Fuji Maneuver Area in Gotemba, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan, on May 28. The annual live-fire drill took place as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged to boost defense spending after a summit with U.S. President Biden and other "Quad" leaders. (Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)

TOKYO — Japan has made a significant policy change to allow it to get the ability to strike other nations, a move widely seen as a major step toward rearming the nation more than seven decades since it demilitarized after World War II.

As Japan's relations with China worsen and the threat it perceives from its much larger neighbor heightens, the Japanese government gave a green light Friday to proposals it has been debating sporadically since at least 1956.

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