Prime minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that Japan will form a space defence unit to protect itself from potential threats as rivals develop missiles and other technology and the new unit will work closely with its American counterpart recently launched by Donald Trump.

The Space Domain Mission Unit will start in April as part of Japan's Air Self-Defence Force, Mr Abe said in a policy speech marking the start of the year's parliamentary session.

He said Japan must also defend itself from threats in cyberspace and from electromagnetic interference against Japanese satellites. Concerns are growing that China and Russia are seeking ways to interfere, disable or destroy satellites.

“We will drastically bolster capability and system in order to secure superiority” in those areas, Mr Abe said.

The space unit will be added to an existing air base at Fuchu in the western suburbs of Tokyo, where about 20 people will be staffed ahead of a full launch in 2022. The role of the space unit is to conduct satellite-based navigation and communications for other troops in the field, rather than being on the ground.

Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Mystic Mountain, a pillar of gas and dust standing at three-light-years tall, bursting with jets of gas from fledgling stars buried within, was captured by Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope in February 2010 Nasa/ESA/STScI Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures The first ever selfie taken on an alien planet, captured by Nasa's Curiosity Rover in the early days of its mission to explore Mars in 2012 Nasa/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Death of a star: This image from Nasa's Chandra X-ray telescope shows the supernova of Tycho, a star in our Milky Way galaxy Nasa Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Arrokoth, the most distant object ever explored, pictured here on 1 January 2019 by a camera on Nasa's New Horizons spaceraft at a distance of 4.1 billion miles from Earth Getty Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory in January 2012. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust Nasa Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures The first ever image of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon telescope, as part of a global collaboration involving Nasa, and released on 10 April 2019. The image reveals the black hole at the centre of Messier 87, a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides about 54 million light-years from Earth Getty Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Pluto, as pictured by Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft as it flew over the dwarf planet for the first time ever in July 2015 Nasa/APL/SwRI Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures A coronal mass ejection as seen by the Chandra Observatory in 2019. This is the first time that Chandra has detected this phenomenon from a star other than the Sun Nasa Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks running downhill on the surface Mars were believed to be evidence of contemporary flowing water. It has since been suggested that they may instead be formed by flowing sand Nasa/JPL/University of Arizona Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Morning Aurora: Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station in October 2015 Nasa/Scott Kelly

In December, Mr Abe's cabinet approved 50.6bn yen (£350m) budget in space-related projects, pending parliamentary approval.

The unit will cooperate with the US Space Command that Mr Trump established in August, as well as Japan's space exploration agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Underscoring the need to step up cyber security, Mitsubishi Electric revealed on Monday that it had suffered a cyber attack last June that may have compromised personal and corporate data involving thousands of its job applicants, employees and retirees. Mitsubishi said there was no breach of sensitive data in the company's operations involving defence, space, transportation, electric power and other businesses sectors. It promised to enhance security measures and monitoring.

Mr Abe has pushed for Japan's Self-Defence Force to expand its international role and capability by bolstering cooperation and weapons compatibility with the US, as it increasingly works alongside American troops and as it grows concerned about the capabilities of China and North Korea.

In marking Sunday's 60th anniversary of the signing of Japan-US security treaty, Mr Abe vowed to bolster Japan's capability and cooperation with the US, including in the areas of space and cyber security.

He said he is determined to settle Japan's “unfortunate past” with North Korea, as he hopes to “sum up” his country's postwar legacies before his term expires next year.

He reiterated his intention to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un without the conditions he had demanded in the past – denuclearising the Korean Peninsula and resolving the decades-old issue of abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korea.

Part of Mr Abe's plan while in office is to achieve his long-cherished goal of revising Japan's US-drafted constitution that prohibits use of force in settling international disputes. Despite Mr Abe's push, chances are fading for the revision due to a lack of public interest and the opposition's focus on other controversial issues such as Japan's recent dispatch of naval troops to Middle East and questionable public record-keeping at Mr Abe's annual cherry blossom-viewing parties.

In a sign of a thaw in Japan's recently tense relations with South Korea, Mr Abe said he planned to cooperate closely with South Korea in dealing with a harsh security environment in northeast Asia.

However, Mr Abe repeated his demand that South Korea resolve the issue of compensation for the former Korean labourers during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule. “I hope [South Korea] will keep its promise between the two countries and build future-oriented bilateral relations,” he said.