TNAG-1155-FCO40-1435-Visits-by-Members-of-Parliament-(MPs)-to-Hong-Kong-1982 — Page 321

4

DSR 11 (Revised)

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PCF Gregory-Hood

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Defence

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CAVEAT.

..In Confidence

SUBJECT: VISIT OF SELECT COMMITTEE ON DEFENCE TO THE

FAR EAST INCLUDING JAPAN

Japan's defence posture and its relations vis a vis

NATO and Western defence

Enclosures-flag(s).......

I. In considering Japan's position vis a vis NATO and

Western defence it is first essential to look at the basic

facts. Currently, Japan with a population of over Ido

million (in islands slightly larger than the UK) and with

a GNP (1980) of at least $1039.6 billion (the second largest

in the non-communist world) spends less than I per cent

of her GNP on defence. By comparison the UK spends about

5.5 per cent and the US will spend around 7 per cent, once

its present defence build-up is completed by 1985. Japan

really is an industrial giant and a military pigmy.

It

must be remembered however that I per cent of her enormous

GNP does give her an army of over 150,000 men with an air-

force and navy of over 40,000 men each known as The Japanese Self-Defence Forces. (Japanese defence spending is still the eighth largest in the world) Japan's defence

posture is related to the defence of the Japanese islands

and its immediate approaches.

I

12.