In the News
January 12, 2023

China Signals Military Response as U.S., Japan Accelerate Defense Plans

“Any increase in Japan's military strength will thus be met with concerns from its neighbors by fundamentally changing the security status quo in the region, with China and North Korea being the most upset,” private intelligence firm RANE concluded in a new analysis note, published after Wednesday’s announcements.

“By increasing its defense budget and military capabilities, Japan is not necessarily preparing for an imminent war, but rather ensuring it can be more proactive in enforcing its maritime territory against North Korean (and Chinese) threats without needing the United States' sign-off on every action, like every other ‘normal’ sovereign nation,” it writes. “Up until recently, China and North Korea were not threats to Japanese sovereignty, as China was not developed enough, and North Korea was primarily concerned with the potential for a peninsular conflict.

“Current Japanese leadership is able to use the increasing threats from North Korea and the potential for Tokyo to be pulled into a Taiwanese conflict to justify the increase in defense spending,” according to RANE, “whereas those threats did not exist before.”

Read the full U.S. News article by Paul D. Shinkman here.