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Japan announces air defense spending increase

TOKYO, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Japanese officials announced a new national security strategy that includes a large increase on military spending as tensions escalate with China.

The new strategy includes spending $230 billion more to produce a new line of fighter jets and unmanned drones among other air defense systems, Voice of America reported. It is the country's first increase in defense spending in years.

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The decision, announced by Japan's recently established U.S.-style National Security Council, comes as Japan and China are engaged in a bitter standoff over control of several remote, unpopulated islands in the South China Sea.

The new policy also calls for a deeper defense partnership with the United States as the two allies seek to confront an increasingly bellicose Chinese government, which recently staked a claim to patrolling international airspace over the disputed islands and other areas, VOA said.

In addition to the increased arms production, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the government will relax laws that have essentially banned the nation from selling arms abroad, Kyodo News reported. The ban is one part of larger constitutional reforms Abe has sought. Japan's pacifist constitution was drafted after World War II and strictly limits military and defense capabilities, Kyodo said.

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"The strategy is designed to make our foreign and security policy clear and transparent both at home and abroad," Abe told reporters. "We will do our part in contributing to global peace and security further."

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