Israel on Tuesday predicted an increase in defense exports to Japan as the Asian economic powerhouse signals its intention to increase military spending amid more assertive Chinese behavior in the region, Reuters reported.

Tokyo is revising post-World War II limits on its military budget amid growing concern that the situation around Ukraine will force China to threaten neighboring Taiwan, the media noted.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party wants to double defense spending to 2 percent of GDP, making Japan's military budget the third-largest in the world.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz noted the change in Japanese policy as he concluded a two-day visit to Tokyo with the signing of a bilateral memorandum on defense cooperation.

This will have real implications, both at the military level and at the level of research and development and at the level of the defense industry going forward, he told reporters.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Attaché Alon Yehoshua said Japan has shown particular interest in cooperation in cyber technology.

In a separate briefing, a Japanese defense ministry spokesman said Gantz and his superiors agreed to continue exploring ways for the two countries to cooperate on defense, but they did not discuss any specific projects or procurement deals.

According to the Times of Israel news website, Israeli defense exports reached a record $11.3 billion in 2021. That made Israel the 10th largest exporter of defense products in the world, the site reported, citing data from a Swedish monitoring group.