Speaking Wednesday at an event in New York hosted by the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan will be a "proactive contributor to peace" in an interconnected global security environment, and scoffed at being labeled a "right-wing militarist."
Even as Japan reviews its self-imposed ban on collective self-defense, Abe said defense spending has not increased as much as that of "an immediate neighbor," apparently referring to China.
"The country has increased its military expenditures, hardly transparent, by more than 10 percent annually for more than 20 years since 1989. And then my government has increased its defense budget only by 0.8 percent," the prime minister said.