How fears over China are spurring Japan’s efforts to strengthen military power

Tokyo has been working to strengthen its military relationship with the US and other Western countries to counter the strategic challenge from Beijing

The pivot away from its traditional pacifist stance has caused concern in the region, and analysts say much depends on how it tries to allay those concerns

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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited the Group of Seven members last month to confirm further collaboration and deepen security cooperation with these countries. Photo: AFP

Kristin Huang

Published: 6:00pm, 11 Feb 2023

Japan is fostering closer military and diplomatic ties with major Western countries due to its concerns about China, but analysts say the increased uncertainty this has caused means it should try to reassure its neighbours about its intentions.

Last month, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida finished a eight-day tour of other Group of Seven members – France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States – to confirm further collaboration and deepen security cooperation with these countries.

Senior officials from Japan and the US have decided that China’s growing power poses the “greatest strategic challenge” in the Indo-Pacific region and have been working to improve deterrence.

Japan moved away from its long-standing defensive posture with the release of a new National Security Strategy in mid-December, a strategy that contains several groundbreaking commitments such as plans to deploy long-range counter strike capabilities and to raise defence spending to 2 per cent of gross domestic product.

Tokyo’s decision to pursue a sixth-generation fighter in conjunction with Britain and Italy, coupled with Kishida’s desire to open a liaison office with Nato, suggests Japan is concerned about conflict spilling over across regions.

Raymond Kuo, a specialist on East Asian security at the Rand Corporation, a US think tank, said the complex security situation in Asia had prompted Japan to be more assertive and increasingly aligned with the US.