Ground Self-Defense Force Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade troops taking part in "Iron Fist 23" military exercises in March with U.S. Marines at Manda Beach on Tokunoshima Island, Kagoshima-Prefecture. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI |
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July 28 (UPI) -- Japanese military chiefs said Friday the country urgently needed a counterstrike capability amid what they said was the most dangerous security situation since World War II and a "rapidly tilting" China-Taiwan military balance in Beijing's favor.
Among the threats cited in Japan's annual defense report, which was presented to the cabinet Friday, was a "significant strengthening of its neighbors' military capabilities" including a ramping up of missile launches and shows of military strength, with China-Russia "strategic coordination" a particular worry.
It also flags North Korea's numerous ballistic missile test launches saying Pyongyang has doggedly pushed ahead with its five-year plan embarked upon in 2021 to develop missile-related technologies.
"China's current external stance, military activities, and other activities have become a matter of serious concern for Japan and the international community, and present an unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge," according to the 28-page Ministry of Defense white paper.
Defense chiefs pointed to a seven-fold increase in the number of times Japanese air defense forces had to be scrambled in response to Chinese threats to 5,869 between 2013 and 2022, compared with just 814 between 2003 and 2012, and leapfrogging Russia. In all, the cumulative total trebled to more than 9,000.
The report stresses that long-range counterstrike capabilities against missile bases were key to deterring any invasion of Japan as they would "enable Japan to mount effective counterstrikes against the opponent to prevent further attacks while defending against incoming missiles by means of the missile defense network."
"This discourages the opponent from attacking and deters armed attack itself."
The report said Chinese military exercises off Taiwan sparked by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei in August may have gamed invasion scenarios including anti-ground and anti-ship tactics and strategies for winning control of the sea and the skies
"The fact that China is capable of carrying out such activities shows that the situation is working to China's advantage," a Defense Ministry official told reporters.
The report also notes a more than doubling of Chinese aircraft entering Taiwan's airspace, up from 972 incidents in 2021 to 1,733 in 2022.
However, on the Taiwan situation, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told a press conference that while the latest defense blueprint was a reflection of Tokyo's "candid views", its long-standing position that disputes "should be always resolved through dialogue," was unchanged.
In December, Japan adopted historic military changes in three security documents, including a commitment to developing a counterstrike capability, a highly controversial move that opponents say is unconstitutional, as Japan seeks to shed some of the curbs on its ability to wage war imposed on it at the end of World War II.
Among the changes is a provision permitting the Japanese military to hit enemy bases and command-and-control nodes with longer-range standoff missiles.
