欧美文化:Japan public opposes tax hikes to pay for expanding defense spending: poll

TOKYO, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese public has raised pressure on the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida over the country's expansion in defense spending and tension-provoking security policies, a Kyodo News poll showed Sunday.

About 64.9 percent of Japanese people disapprove of Japan's recently announced plan to raise taxes to finance a substantial increase in defense spending, according to the opinion poll.

On Friday, Kishida announced Japan's updated security and defense-related documents including the National Security Strategy, marking a significant change to its post-war security policies.

Regarding the planned increase in defense budgets for five years from the next fiscal year, 53.6 percent oppose it, with 39 percent in favor, the survey showed.

As the government also plans to increase corporate and tobacco taxes to boost defense spending, the poll showed that 87.1 percent felt Kishida had failed to explain the tax hike plan adequately, with only 7.2 percent saying his explanation was sufficient.

According to the security documents, aimed at the so-called "counterstrike capabilities," Japan will acquire the capability to directly attack another country's territory.

Among the surveyed, 61 percent believe such a capability could provoke tensions with neighboring countries, while 33.9 percent said it is not a concern.

Held Saturday and Sunday, the telephone poll surveyed 509 randomly selected households with eligible voters on landline phones and 2,245 mobile phone numbers, yielding responses from 425 households and 626 mobile phone users.