Japan’s security environment is harsher than NATO’s and the menace is not limited to Russia. Spending more than 2% of GDP is critical for national security.
President Joe Biden’s declaration that the US would help defend Taiwan enhances deterrence in the region. Japan too should be proactive in this respect.
Does Japan have the will to transform into a normal country, like Germany has done almost instantaneously in the wake of the Ukraine crisis?
“Being able to exercise the right of collective self-defense means nothing more than avoiding getting dragged into a war,” he said at a recent symposium.
How then can Tokyo persuasively call upon allies to cooperate in deterring China and North Korea amid the high level of regional threats?
Until recently, intelligence sharing with Japan would have been unthinkable, but that changed following serious legislation on protecting official secrets.
Kishida is displaying much bolder leadership and decision-making on China-related and other issues since taking the reigns of government.
The Taiwan situation is alarmingly tense. China and Russia militaries display force against Japan. The Diet should approve the largest proposed supplemental defense budget in Japan’s...
The long duration of Japan’s pacifism in the face of increasing belligerence from China is not only an effect of near-sighted historical memory...
China’s leaders sent two clear messages from this month’s National People’s Congress in Beijing. The first was that President Xi Jinping is centralizing power...
