TOKYO: Japan faces increasingly serious threats to its security from an assertive China and an unpredictable North Korea, a defence ministry report said today, as ruling politicians call for the military to beef up its ability to respond to such threats.
The report, the first since hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office vowing to boost Japan’s defences, was likely to prompt a sharp response from Beijing, whose ties with Tokyo are strained by a territorial row.
China is also upset by remarks from Abe suggesting he wants to cast Tokyo’s wartime history in a less apologetic tone.
“There are various issues and destabilising factors in the security environment surrounding Japan, some of which are becoming increasingly tangible, acute and serious,” the annual defence white paper said.
“China has attempted to change the status quo by force based on its own assertion, which is incompatible with the existing order of international law,” the report said, echoing recent comments by Abe and his cabinet.
“China should accept and stick to the international norms.”
A Sino-Japanese dispute over rival claims to tiny East China Sea islets flared up last September after Japan nationalised the isles, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.
Japan has been gradually ratcheting up its expressions of concern about Beijing’s military expansion. Last year’s defence white paper, issued before the islands flare-up, flagged the risks of the army’s role in shaping Chinese foreign policy.
Patrol ships from both countries routinely shadow each other near the islands, raising concerns that an unintended collision or other incident could lead to a broader clash.
“Some of China’s activities involve its intrusion into Japan’s territorial waters, its violation of Japan’s territorial airspace and even dangerous actions that could cause a contingency, and are extremely regrettable,” the paper said.
Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said in February that a Chinese naval vessel had locked its fire control radar on a Japanese destroyer. Directing such radar at a target can be considered a step away from actual firing. China denied the warship had locked its radar on the Japanese vessel. But the white paper said Beijing’s assertion was “inconsistent with the facts”. (PTI)