REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TOKYO -- Japan announced Tuesday it will buy stealth fighters, drones and submarines as part of a splurge on military hardware that will beef up defence of far-flung islands amid a territorial row with China.

The cabinet of hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to spend 24.7 trillion yen ($240 billion) between 2014 and 2019 in a strategic shift towards the south and west of the country -- a five percent boost to the military budget over five years.

The shopping list is part of efforts by Abe to upgrade the military in Japan, which has been officially pacifist since defeat in World War II. Its well-equipped and highly professional services are limited to a narrowly defined self-defensive role.

"Can we really protect the lives of citizens and our state simply by (exercising) the right to individual self-defense?" Abe asked rhetorically at a meeting of a government panel of security experts Tuesday, Kyodo news agency reported.

The large-scale spending on military hardware comes as Japan establishes a US-style National Security Council that is expected to concentrate greater power in the hands of a smaller number of senior politicians and bureaucrats.

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