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A Japanese government panel of experts on the country's defense capabilities has called for the early deployment of missiles with counterattack capabilities. It also suggested tax hikes would be the preferred way to finance the increase in defense capabilities.

The panel came up with a report on ways to drastically enhance the country's defense capabilities, on Tuesday. The panel's chair, Sasae Kenichiro, who is a former ambassador to the US, submitted the report to Prime Minister Kishida Fumio.

Data on capital investment by Japanese companies for the January-March period has been revised down, after the impact of the coronavirus pandemic became clearer.

The survey by the Finance Ministry targeted roughly 30,000 firms with capital equivalent to at least 94,000 dollars.

Japan's Cabinet has approved a package to fund most of an emergency plan to tackle the outbreak of the new coronavirus. The spending totals 10.3 billion yen, or 93.8 million dollars. The total plan is worth about 140 million dollars.

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters on Friday that the government wants to implement "firm and urgent countermeasures to stop the further spread of the virus." He also said it wants to promote urgent support plans for affected industries.