TOKYO -- Japan is not constrained to keep defense spending within 1% of GDP, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told Newsweek magazine, signaling a willingness to go beyond a long-standing ceiling to cope with a demanding security environment.

Acknowledging that "the security environment is getting tougher now," Suga identified the space and cyber domains as among the areas of focus for increasing defense capabilities.

"So even in a tough fiscal position, such necessary defense spending will be budgeted," Suga said.

Japan's annual defense spending has remained below a ceiling of 1% of gross domestic product, reaching 0.94% of GDP in fiscal 2020.

"The government of Japan does not adopt an approach to defense spending of keeping it within 1% of GDP," Suga said, reinforcing Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi's comments from May.

On Okinawa facing potential vulnerability from a U.S.-China conflict over Taiwan, Suga noted that there are many American bases on the southern Japanese island, saying, "Based on this alliance between Japan and the United States, [we must] make sure that Okinawa will be protected."

As for the 11-member regional trade pact known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, "it was very regrettable that the U.S. decided not to join TPP when it was the U.S. that had proposed it," Suga said.

"I would like to see the U.S. rejoin TPP but I also do understand that there are difficulties involved," he said.

The Newsweek interview was conducted in late July and published online this week.