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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Japan feels threat of ChinaÂ’s military |
| 2007-07-07 |
| Japan on Friday expressed concern over China’s growing military reach and reiterated what it said was the need to accelerate the deployment of missile defence to protect against the North Korean nuclear and missile threat. The cabinet of Shinzo Abe, prime minister, endorsed the 2007 defence white paper, which laid out growing regional tensions. “China is believed to be aiming to build capacity to perform operations in waters further and further from its shores,” the paper said. Beijing was aiming at “air superiority further forward and anti-surface and anti-ship assault capability,” it added. As a result of this, as well as Beijing’s deployment of 700 short-range ballistic missiles capable of hitting Taiwan, the military balance was shifting towards China, it said. “China is accelerating the modernization of its military forces.” The document, presented by Yuriko Koike, Japan’s first female defence minister, who took over the portfolio only this week, is the clearest signal yet of Tokyo’s concern about Beijing’s growing military capability. Last year, the white paper said only that Japan needed to watch China’s military modernisation carefully and defence officials have consistently denied that they regard Beijing as a threat. Defence officials nevertheless say Japan’s military needs to adjust to new regional security considerations, as well as respond to the Japanese government’s stated aim of increasing the so-called defence forces’ role in international peacekeeping operations. In a recent interview with the Financial Times, while she was national security adviser to the prime minister, Ms Koike said: “By the strong will of Mr Abe we would like to take a more assertive policy. He has brought momentum to that process.” She added: “China’s expanding military is a matter of concern. The transparency of China’s military power is far from what’s needed.” Mr Abe has built on the policies of his predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, who sent 550 ground forces to southern Iraq on a reconstruction mission. Mr Abe upgraded the defence agency to ministry status for the first time since Japan’s defeat in the second world war, and has pledged to rewrite the constitution, which limits Japan’s ability to come to the military aid of its allies. His government has also accelerated spending on missile defence. This year it will spend about $1.3bn on the system, which it is developing jointly with the US. In December the first ship equipped with Aegis missile interceptors will be deployed following the steady introduction of ground-to-air missiles from earlier this year. Tokyo says it needs missile defence because of the threat from Pyongyang, which in 1998 fired ballistic missiles over Japan and last year tested a nuclear bomb. “In particular, North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missiles problems are becoming ever more serious,”the paper said. Ms Koike told the FT: “The denuclearisation of North Korea is very important, not only for our region but in terms of proliferation to Iran.” Ms Koike was named head of the defence ministry this week to replace Fumio Kyuma, who resigned after remarks to the effect that the US could not be blamed for dropping nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #3 Interesting question as to whether to let Japan in on the F-22. Supposedly the decision has been amde not to. But does that only encourage the Japanese to develope their own G-5 fighter that may be better than ours? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-07-07 10:35 |
| #2 China's military build up is insane. They do not want to wake up Japan. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-07-07 09:51 |
| #1 IMO Iran is escalating tensions in the ME, and I've seen little to nothing to indicate that a US-Iran conflict in the ME btwn now and 2009 will not also result in a new Asian war over North Korea-Taiwan. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-07-07 01:34 |