TOKYO — The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is requesting another increase in spending on Japan’s armed forces, with a plan to expand missile defenses that would test the nation’s commitment to pacifism and escalate a regional arms race with China and North Korea.

With rising threats from North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile program and repeated incursions by Chinese ships into waters surrounding a string of islands claimed by Japan, the request would let the Defense Ministry develop new antiballistic missiles and place troops on southern islands closer to the chain in dispute with China.

If approved, the budget proposal for 5.17 trillion yen, or $50.2 billion, formally submitted on Wednesday, would be the nation’s fifth-straight annual increase in military spending. It is a 2.3 percent rise over last year.

The request includes proposals to develop and potentially purchase new antiballistic missiles that can be launched from ships or land, and to upgrade and extend the range of the country’s current land-based missile defense systems, a significant expansion of Japan’s missile defense capabilities.</s>Japan's Abe in Russia to warm ties with Putin

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia's far east on Friday as the countries step up efforts to boost trade ties and resolve a lingering territorial dispute.

Tokyo-Moscow relations are hamstrung by a row dating back to the end of World War II when Soviet troops seized the southernmost islands in the Pacific Kuril chain, known as the Northern Territories in Japan.

The tensions have prevented the countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending wartime hostilities, hindering trade and investment ties.

Abe's visit to Russia -- his second this year -- comes days after the Kremlin announced that Putin will travel to Japan in December, his first trip to the country since 2005.

Experts view recent rapprochement efforts as a positive development for Moscow's trade ties with stalwart US ally Tokyo but doubt that they will result in a resolution of their territorial dispute.

Over the years, leaders from the two nations have tried to make headway on resolving the row but a solution has proved elusive and still looks some way off.

Both sides have confirmed that Friday's talks -- taking place on the sidelines of an economic forum in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok -- will touch upon the disputed islands.

Japan's top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told AFP that only "frank talks" could pave the way to a peace treaty.

But neither side has signalled it is ready to compromise.

"The two parties are likely to show that they are in favour of a peace treaty but will try not to publically express their disagreements about the Kuril islands," Russian political analyst Konstantin Kalachev said.

"Japan is not ready to drop its claims to the islands and Russia will by no means recognise them."

Foreign minister Lavrov said earlier this year that Russia wants to "move forward" its ties with Japan but is not prepared to budge on the "result of World War II".

Russia has angered Japan recently by building new modern compounds for its troops stationed on two of the disputed islands.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev infuriated Tokyo last year when he visited the islands, which are home to some 19,000 Russians.

Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters that boosting trade will be "at the heart" of Putin's talks with Abe -- after Japan joined the US and EU to slap sanctions on Russia over its meddling in Ukraine.

Bilateral trade between the countries last year fell by 31 percent to $21.3 billion, in part due to the punishing economic measures by Japan.

Ushakov stressed that in spite of the sanctions imposed by Tokyo, the Russian market remains "of great interest" to the Japanese business community.

Abe is travelling with a large delegation that will discuss a wide-range of economic issues with senior Russian officials, including foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, energy minister Alexander Novak, and industry and trade minister Denis Manturov.

Business leaders Igor Sechin, the CEO of oil giant Rosneft, and Oleg Deripaska, who heads aluminium producer Rusal, are also set to take part in talks with the Japanese delegation, Ushakov said.

During his visit to Russia's Black Sea city of Sochi in May, Abe proposed an eight-point economic cooperation plan with Russia that focused on energy, agriculture and industrial production.</s>MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a rare visit in Russia's Far East.

Abe has been pushing for progress in the dispute over the Russian-held islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan and the southern Kurils in Russia. The row has kept the two countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending their WWII hostilities. Abe wants to arrange Putin's visit to Japan later this year.

Putin on Friday hosted Abe in the Pacific port of Vladivostok, telling the Japanese prime minister in televised remarks that Moscow is willing to build on the progress in talks that the two leaders last held in Russia's Sochi in May.</s>VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to continue talks on a territorial dispute over the Kurile islands, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on Friday after talks between the two leaders.

"They agreed we would continue the talks and the results would be made public during the visit of the Russian leader to Japan before the end of the year," Lavrov said. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Jack Stubbs)</s>If approved, the hike of 2.3 percent will take the defense budget to 5.17 trillion yen ($51.47 billion) in the year starting April 1, for a fifth consecutive increase as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bolsters Japan's military.

The nation's Self Defense Forces are pivoting away from guarding the north against a diminished Russian threat to reinforce an island chain stretching 1,400 km (870 miles) along the southern edge of the East China Sea.

That means opting for fewer tank divisions as they build a mobile amphibious force from scratch.

The costly rejig comes as Japan is also forced to spend more to guard against ballistic missiles being developed by North Korea capable of striking most areas.

The single biggest expenditure is 99 billion yen ($970 million) to upgrade Japan's warhead-killing Patriot batteries, a last line of defense against missile strikes.

The improvements will double their range to around 30 km (19 miles) and sharpen targeting to hit arriving ballistic warheads.

They will take five years to complete, with the first four enhanced Patriots expected to be ready for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In June, North Korea test-fired what appeared to be two mobile Musudan rockets, one of which climbed to 1,000 km (600 miles), or enough to fly more than 3,000 km (1,800 miles) down range.

On Aug. 24, Pyongyang also fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) toward Japan that traveled 500 km (311 miles).

Japan's biggest defense contractor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) ( ) will upgrade the PAC-3s under license from Lockheed Martin Corp and Raytheon Co, sources familiar with the plan told Reuters last month.

The budget request also includes funding to improve Aegis destroyers that are Japan's first line of defense against ballistic missiles.

Japan and the United States are developing a new warhead killer, the Standard Missile 3 (SM-3), to destroy targets in space, but no decision on a full rollout has yet been made.

Other proposed defense buys will reinforce the East China Sea, where Japan and China are locked in a territorial dispute over a group of islets 220 km (140 miles) northeast of Taiwan known as the Senkakus in Tokyo and the Diaoyus in Beijing.

Japanese air scrambles against Chinese aircraft are running at a record high, with Beijing's navy probing deeper and more frequently into the Western Pacific beyond Japan's island chain.

Chinese military activity in the region was "escalating," Japan's Self-Defence Forces chief Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano said in June.

Defence officials want 95 billion yen next year to buy six Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters, and a combined 92 billion for four Boeing Co ( ) and Bell Helicopter ( ) V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and six Boeing Chinook twin-rotor helicopters.

The SDF also wants 11 BAE Systems ( ) AAV7 amphibious assault craft, and two long-range Kawasaki Heavy Industries ( ) C-2 military cargo jets.

Other buys will include a Northrop Grumman ( ) unmanned Global Hawk surveillance drone and a new larger-class diesel-electric submarine designed by Mitsubishi Heavy and Kawasaki Heavy.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans on increasing the spending for the Japan Self-Defense Force.