Japan Ups Defence Spending Over China Tension

Japan has announced plans to increase its defence budget for the first time in a decade as tensions with China continue to increase.

As part of a broad stimulus package announced by Shinzo Abe, Japan's new prime minister, the military budget will be boosted by more than 100bn yen (£695m) from the 4.6trn yen (£30bn) budget in 2012.

A defence ministry spokesman said the funds were needed "to prepare for the changing security environment surrounding Japan".

Tensions between Tokyo and Beijing are at their highest in decades over a small group of islands in the East China Sea.

Both countries claim the five islands and three reefs which are located due west of Okinawa and to the northeast of Taiwan.

American and British diplomatic sources have told Sky News they are very concerned about the tensions.

Protests have occurred in both Japan and China over the islands

One source said an accidental clash between the two countries' militaries which are increasingly active in the region could spark conflict.

Known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan and as the Diaoyu Islands by China, the uninhabited outcrops were 'officially' bought by the government of Japan from their private Japanese owner last year.

It was an attempt by the Japanese government to prevent the nationalist and right-wing governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, from buying them himself - a move which would have sparked even greater tensions.

However, the government purchase caused huge anger in China with protests at Japanese institutions across the country. An unofficial but widespread boycott of Japanese goods in China hit an already struggling Japanese economy.

The governments of both countries have been accused of stoking nationalism to ramp up tensions and deflect from their own domestic political struggles.

There have been clashes between vessels

An increased military presence in the East China Sea, a vital international shipping lane, is also causing some concern in the region and beyond.

On Thursday, the Japanese media said Tokyo had scrambled fighter jets in response to a sighting of Chinese 'military' planes near the disputed islands.

The Chinese planes were not within Japanese airspace but were within a Japanese designated 'air defence identification zone'.

It is the second time in two months that Japan has scrambled jets in response to Chinese aerial activity.

In December, Japanese F-15 fighter jets were dispatched from an air base in Okinawa after a light-aircraft belonging to China's Maritime Surveillance Organisation was spotted over the islands.

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