The joint operations between China and Russia combined with threats coming from North Korea pose the greatest threat to global order since World War II, Japan’s defense ministry said in a new document.
"The existing order of world peace is being seriously challenged, and Japan finds itself in the most severe and complex security environment of the post-war era," Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said in the annual document. "The international society is in a new crisis era as it faces the biggest challenges since the end of World War II."
The world’s greatest threats are centered in the Indo-Pacific, where Japan is located, and are expected to get worse in coming years, he added.
And amid questions about what role Japan would play if war broke out between the U.S. and China over Taiwan, the minister called the U.S. a "key pillar of our national security policy and the cornerstone of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region."
PENTAGON PRESSES JAPAN, AUSTRALIA ON ROLE IN POSSIBLE TAIWAN CONFLICT
Jiang Bin, a spokesperson for China’s defense ministry, said Wednesday that Japan was "hyping up the ‘China threat,’ and grossly interfering in China’s internal affairs."
Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby lauded the report as an "important, clear-eyed strategic assessment."
The report also comes days after Japan accused China of risking near-collisions by flying its fighter jets abnormally close to Tokyo’s intelligence-gathering aircraft. China accused Japan of flying near Chinese airspace to spy.
The presence of Chinese warships off the coast of southwestern Japan has tripled in the last three years, including in waters between Taiwan and the neighboring Japanese island of Yonaguni, the paper said.
Russia has engaged in joint activities with China involving aircraft and vessels.
North Korea, meanwhile, poses "an increasingly serious and imminent threat" to Japan’s security, having developed missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads into Japanese territory and intercontinental missiles that could reach the U.S. homeland.
CHINA ACCUSES HEGSETH OF ESPOUSING 'COLD WAR MENTALITY' FOR LABELING COUNTRY AS A THREAT: 'VILIFIED'
Japan, in return, continues to fortify its southwestern island chains with long-range cruise missiles, including U.S.-made Tomahawks.
The overall military balance between China and Taiwan is "rapidly tilting in China’s favor," according to the paper, and Taiwan’s defensive capabilities are increasingly outpaced, especially with China’s development of anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) systems and amphibious capabilities.
"There is growing concern over China’s pursuit of unification through gray-zone military activities," the paper says, referring to incremental intrusion tactics without the launch of full-scale war.
Japan sees Taiwan’s security as directly tied to its own: Taiwan strait instability could disrupt vital sea lanes for Japan.
