The tax panel of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Thursday agreed to raise key taxes to pay for a doubling in the government's defence budget over the next five years amid growing regional tensions.

The plan aims to gain formal government approval on Friday, Yoichi Miyazawa, chief of the LDP's tax panel, told reporters.

Kishida has said taxes would be raised to fund the increase in defence spending, to 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027 from the current 1%, but many lawmakers objected to going ahead with unpopular tax hikes, resulting in days of wrangling over the plan. (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)