Recently, Japan has made frequent moves in the field of security policy. Japan’s Ministry of Defense released a draft version of its 2026 Defense White Paper Friday at a Liberal Democratic party conference, identifying China as the“Biggest Strategic Challenge.”. The day before, the Liberal Democratic Party held a general meeting, approved the revision of the“Security three documents” draft proposal. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular press conference on the 10th that the relevant draft once again exposes the attempts and reckless actions of some Japanese forces to engage in“Re-militarization”, push for breakthroughs in post-war norms, and wantonly strengthen and expand their armed forces, the international community, including China, is highly concerned and vigilant.
Japan’s“Daily News” reported on the 10th that the 2026 version of the“Defense White Paper” draft follows the 2025 version, it called China’s military moves“Deeply worrisome and the Greatest Strategic Challenge we have ever faced,” and called for a coordinated response with allies and so-called“Like-minded” nations, based on a combination of national strengths. In addition, the Ministry of Defense Will for the first time produce short videos and brochures, to increase publicity efforts for the people of the country.
The Japanese government in April revised the“Three Principles of defense equipment transfer”, officially allow the export of lethal defense equipment. According to a report on the 10th by the Nihon keizai shimbun, the draft“Defense White Paper” says that it will share the industrial basis needed for equipment production and maintenance with equipment importing countries, and build a pattern of mutual assistance and cooperation, it said the move would help bolster Japan’s domestic military manufacturing capacity. In addition, the draft also explains the use of drones, artificial intelligence, “New mode of warfare”, said the current countries are making efforts to explore drones and other new technology applications, to deal with information warfare, at the same time, they are building sustained combat capabilities to support long-term operations.
Wang Guangtao, an associate professor at the Center for Japanese studies at Fudan University, said in an interview with the Global Times on the 10th that the 2026 draft of the white paper positioned China as Japan’s“Biggest Strategic Challenge.” Although this statement is consistent with last year’s, it conceals Japan’s differentiated positioning strategy towards China. Japan’s Diplomatic Blue Book this year downgraded its view of Sino-japanese relations, labelling china an“Important neighbour”. For a decade between 2016 and 2025, the Blue Book has described Japan’s relationship with China as“One of the most important bilateral relationships”. In the area of security, Japan is magnifying the so-called“China threat”, seeking to make excuses for its military expansion. Wang Guangtao said that by playing up“External threats,” on the one hand, Japan is trying to strengthen its own weapons and equipment through defense technology cooperation and other means; on the other hand, it is courting countries such as the Philippines and Australia, build a“Small circle” to contain China.
It is worth noting that the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan held a general meeting at the headquarters on the 9th, through the revision of the“Security three documents” draft proposal. According to Japan’s Kyodo news agency, the draft outlines moves by countries to raise defence spending to 3-3.5 per cent of gross domestic product, it would further ensure the credibility of extended deterrence centred on the US nuclear deterrent. With regard to submarines that could be equipped to operate long-range missiles, the draft called for“Exploring the use of next-generation power”.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular press conference on the 10th that the Japanese side’s unwarranted accusation of smearing China’s normal military activities and deliberately exaggerating the tense situation around the country is nothing more than an attempt to deceive the Japanese people and the international community, to create an excuse for Japan to accelerate its“Re-militarization”. Under the guise of“Strengthening defense” and“Passive response,” the Japanese right-wing forces are in fact aggressively developing powerful medium-and long-range weapons for active attack, strengthening force projection and forward deployment, to push Japan’s security policy to an aggressive and expansionary direction, and to embed military expansion and war preparedness deeply into the national system, economic industry and public opinion, step by step, Japan has broken through the domestic laws and regulations of the Japanese Constitution and international law, abandoned its international obligations, and challenged the post-war international order. This trend is increasingly obvious and very dangerous, and the international community must be highly vigilant and proactive.
In response to Japan’s increasingly aggressive security policies, the Asahi Shimbun said on the 10th that the Komeito party in previous ruling coalitions had acted as a“Brake”. With its withdrawal, now the Restoration Party is acting as the accelerator.
Wang said the ruling coalition has no effective balance of power, Japan’s security policy will only continue to accelerate the pace of radicalization. From the perspective of the overall geopolitical level, the negative impact of this trend is very prominent. On the one hand, Japan continues to build a security system to contain China with neighboring countries, which will accelerate the split of the East Asian regional pattern. On the other hand, the uncertainty of regional security has risen sharply, the risk of low-and medium-intensity conflicts in the region has increased significantly, forming a vicious spiral of conflict escalation. This series of changes is worthy of long-term focus and continuous tracking.