Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has set several goals to bolster Japan's deterrence capability. One of these goals is to increase the defense budget over the next five years to match the North Atlantic Treaty Organization target of 2% of gross domestic product. Historically, Japan has limited its defense spending to within 1% of GDP. Increasing the budget to 2% will signal a historic shift in Japanese defense policy. No prominent objections to this goal exist within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, although there is debate over how Japan will achieve it.
Kishida aims to achieve Japan's 2% target by introducing a new definition of defense-related expenditures under the "NATO standard" of accounting. This means that the national defense budget would include some already existing items that Japan does not currently count toward defense spending, such as the Japan Coast Guard budget and the science and technology budgets of other ministries and agencies. Some LDP members fear that the new concept will artificially pad the defense budget. However, these members likely do not understand Kishida's true motive in introducing the concept.
