Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closes 0.07 pct lower

Hong Kong's stock market ended lower on Wednesday with the benchmark Hang Seng Index down 0.07 percent to close at 25,935.41 points.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index lost 0.11 percent to end at 9,163.24 points, and the Hang Seng Tech Index shed 0.56 percent to close at 5,785.85 points.

Japan's House of Councillors, the upper house of the National Diet of the country, passed a supplementary budget for fiscal year 2025 at a plenary session on Tuesday, pushing defense spending to a record high.

Since the House of Representatives, the lower house, has already passed the supplementary budget, the approval of the supplementary budget by the House of Councillors means it has been enacted by the National Diet.

The supplementary budget allocates an additional 1.1 trillion yen (about 7.7 billion U.S. dollars) for defense. Combined with the previously approved 9.9 trillion yen (about 69.2 billion U.S. dollars) defense budget, Japan's total defense spending for fiscal year 2025 reaches approximately 11 trillion yen (about 77 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for about 2 percent of its GDP, a record high that has drawn questioning and strong opposition from various quarters within Japan.

In fact, the increase in defense-related expenses had already sparked questioning and opposition when the government submitted the supplementary budget to an extraordinary Diet session on December 8.

Japanese citizens have rallies recently in various parts across the country, strongly protesting the government's disregard of public welfare and its continued advancement of military expansion.

"Japan's military spending has continued to increase while social security contributions are being cut. I oppose this move as we are not paying taxes to fund military expansion," said a protester.

In recent years, Japan has repeatedly breached the constraints of its postwar pacifist constitution, significantly increased its defense budget, promoted the export of lethal weapons, and plotted to revise the Three Non-Nuclear Principles.

The Three Non-Nuclear Principles, not possessing, not producing and not allowing introduction of nuclear weapons into Japanese territory, were first declared in the Diet, Japan's parliament, by then Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in 1967 and viewed as a national credo.