Japan must strengthen its military forces with a "sense of urgency and crisis," Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on Tuesday, as a new government assessment again highlighted growing risks from China, North Korea, and Russia, UNN reports citing AFP.
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Japan is already increasing military spending and security cooperation in Asia, deploying missile launchers on remote islands, seeking to acquire "counterstrike" capabilities, and easing arms export rules.
But Shinjiro Koizumi, in the foreword to the annual defense "white paper," said that "Japan must continue to strengthen and transform its defense capabilities with a stronger-than-ever sense of urgency and crisis."
He added that in the Asia-Pacific region, "not only China and North Korea continue to strengthen their military capabilities, but China-Russia and Russia-North Korea are also enhancing their cooperation."
The new "white paper" states that China is "intensifying its activities" in the region around Japan, "extending beyond the so-called first island chain to the second island chain."
It lists a number of incidents in 2025, including actions by Chinese aircraft carriers and "unusually close approaches" of Chinese aircraft to Japanese aircraft in two incidents in June and July.
Japanese aircraft scrambled 595 times in the year to March 31, 2026, including 366 sorties against Chinese aircraft and 214 against Russian aircraft. This compares with 704 scrambles the previous year and is the lowest figure since at least 2021.
Japan decided in April to lift its self-imposed ban on arms exports, but the white paper highlighted problems in the country's industrial base that could threaten procurement and innovation.
Japan eases arms export rules, moving away from post-war pacifism21.04.26, 10:40
Koizumi also said that he and his American counterpart Pete Hegseth "exchanged candid views" on the "unwavering" alliance between the U.S. and Japan, and also strengthened security cooperation with the Philippines, Australia, and South Korea to realize a "free and open Indo-Pacific."
"As the security environment becomes increasingly complex, it is now necessary to strengthen resilience to crises across the Indo-Pacific region," Koizumi said.
"To this end, Japan will create and expand multi-layered networks among allies and like-minded countries, and will strengthen connectivity with like-minded countries and others in all areas," he added.
China has expressed concern over what it sees as Japan's return to "new militarism," amid deteriorating relations following comments on Taiwan last year by new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, known for her hawkish stance.