WASHINGTON -- Japan should direct its growing defense spending toward areas that provide the most benefit to its forces and the U.S. alliance, such as stocking up on missiles, Jeffrey Hornung, a senior political scientist at the U.S.-based RAND Corp. think tank, told Nikkei.
How to distribute the budget has been a subject of intense debate as Japan prepares to update its defense guidelines to cope with growing security threats. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has promised a substantial increase in defense spending, which is hovering around 1% of gross domestic product. A government panel of experts released a report on the issue Tuesday.
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