Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan’s biggest defence contractor, has warned that the survival of the country’s struggling defence sector is at stake as the government debates a historic increase in military spending to counter the threat from China.

Naohiko Abe, who heads the sprawling conglomerate’s defence and space business, told the Financial Times that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has crystallised the security risks to Japan posed by China and North Korea, creating more public support for a bigger defence budget. Recent polls have shown that a majority of the Japanese public is in favour of an increase.

“It was a big factor that everyone including the general public started to feel that something similar to Ukraine could happen around Japan. Putting aside the actual figure of how much the defence budget will increase in terms of percentage, action needs to be taken,” Abe said.