Japan stepped up its alarm over China's assertiveness in the region, its growing military ties to Russia and its claims on Taiwan in an annual defense paper released Friday that is the first under Tokyo's new security strategy calling for a major military buildup.
The current security environment is the worst since the end of World War II, according to the 2023 edition of Japan’s defense white paper approved by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet. It is the first under the National Security Strategy the government adopted in December, stating the need to bolster strike capability with long-range missiles like Tomahawks, a controversial plan seen as a break from Japan's self-defense-only postwar principle.
