TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio said Sunday that the country needs to thoroughly discuss whether to develop the capability to strike enemy missile bases.

The issue “requires thorough discussions first rather than preparations for a budget,” Kishida said in a televised debate among leaders of ruling and opposition parties ahead of the Oct. 31 general election.

Developing the capability to strike enemy bases is “one of the options,” said Kishida, president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

“Missile technologies are advancing every year. Politicians need to thoroughly consider ways to protect the people’s lives and livelihood,” he said.

Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of Komeito, the LDP’s coalition partner, took a cautious stance about the LDP’s call for boosting Japan’s defense budget to 2 percent or more of the country’s gross domestic product.

The defense budget “has been kept to around 1 percent (of GDP) for a long time. Doubling the defense budget alone is not acceptable to the people,” Yamaguchi said.

Yukio Edano, leader of the major opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, called for scrutiny of the country’s defense spending. Japan “may have been buying outdated fighters at very high prices,” he said.

JIJI Press