Japan’s Latest Defense White Paper Regards China and Russia as Imaginary Enemies

According to FNN, Japanese cabinet released the 2022 Japanese defense white paper on July 22nd, stating the military cooperation between the Communist China and Russia is shocking. This year’s white paper mentioned Japan’s “counterattack ability” in response to foreign attacks for the first time.

The defense white paper starts with a special report on “Russia’s aggression in Ukraine”. It also compared the Taiwan Strait situation to an East Asian version of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and pointed out that the Communist China has never given up its ambition to invade Taiwan.

The white paper said up to May 2022, the Communist China had conducted four joint long range bomber exercises in the East China Sea along with Russia for four consecutive years, and stressed the need to stay highly alarmed and pay close attention to the close military cooperation between the Communist China and Russia.

The white paper also noted that the Communist China is developing hypersonic weapons with North Korea, and cited for the first time Japan’s “countermeasure abilities” under foreign attack. In addition, the defense budget of 40,000 yen per person in Japan is about half of that of France and Germany, and only one-third of South Korea, which is at a low level, therefore, it is necessary to increase the defense budget in 2023 to strengthen national defense capabilities.

Comments: Japan’s defense white paper accelerates the adoption of the 2023 military budget increase and constitutional amendment by emphasizing the threat posed by Communist China, Russia and North Korea to the future of East Asia and even the Indo-Pacific region. It shows that the Japanese government is getting prepared to make the country reach a state of normalcy.