In its annual defense white paper, Japan warned on Friday of growing dangers to national security, including fallout from Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, Chinese intimidation of Taiwan, and weak technology supply chains.
For the governing party’s hope to treble over the next several years, it has to receive public support for an extraordinary increase in military expenditure. The study outlines the government’s security worries as it prepares the defense ministry budget proposal due next month.
It expresses worry that Russia’s use of force to settle a disagreement set a precedent that threatens the security of neighboring Taiwan, which Beijing sees as its territory, and calls Moscow’s war on Ukraine a “severe breach of international law.”
Chinese military aircraft are increasingly testing Taiwan’s air defenses; last month, fighter jets crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which serves as an informal border between the two countries. China’s actions receive criticism by Taipei as a “provocation.”
Beijing claims to have sovereign authority over the waterway.
China, Russia, and North Korea are the top security worries of the government headed by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Nobuo Kishi, Kishida’s defense minister, has previously depicted Japan as being on the front lines and encircled by nuclear-armed adversaries.
