On Friday, the Japanese government is to approve a radical revision of its defense doctrine to, in particular, try to counter China’s military power, which is perceived as a challenge to the security of the archipelago, AFP notes.

As part of the biggest overhaul of its defense policy in decades, Japan intends to increase its military spending, unify its command and increase the range of its missiles.

Tokyo “will present these changes as necessary, moderate and fully consistent with its previous defense posture,” but in reality “it will radically strengthen its military power,” said Chris Hughes, a professor of international politics at England’s University of Warwick.

Although the changes are supported by Japanese public opinion, it is a major reversal for a country whose pacifist Constitution, adopted the day after defeat at the end of World War II, effectively forbids it from building a real army.

The new national defense strategy is expected to make clear references to threats from China, North Korea and Russia, using more declarative language than when Japan’s first national security strategy was published in 2013, particularly regarding Beijing.

As part of its new “national security strategy,” Japan plans to double its annual defense budget from about 1 percent of GDP to 2 percent by 2027, which has already sparked criticism over how the increase will be financed.

Thus, Tokyo will join similar commitments already undertaken by NATO member states.

In particular, Japan intends to equip itself with means of “counterattacks”, a concept that until recently was considered incompatible with its Constitution. This will allow it to hit targets in neighboring countries that threaten the archipelago.

Recently, local media reported that Japan is particularly interested in acquiring up to 500 US Tomahawk cruise missiles while increasing the capabilities of its current arsenal.

In addition, according to Japanese media, the presence of the Self-Defense Forces on Japan’s southernmost islands, closest to Taiwan and therefore to China, will increase, nearly tripling the number of ballistic missile interceptor units.

Japan’s long-standing concerns about China were further exacerbated in August when Beijing stepped up military exercises near Taiwan that sent missiles crashing into the sea in the Japanese archipelago’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The national security strategy also cites North Korea’s repeated missile launches and the threat they pose to Japan as well as Russia, its northern neighbor.

Even before its official announcement, the new Japanese strategy has angered Beijing, which regularly alludes to the brutal Japanese militarism of the first half of the 20th century, one of whose victims is China.

China “strongly opposes” the policy, which “departs from Japan’s commitment to bilateral relations and consensus” with Beijing and which “contains baseless slander against China,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Wednesday, as quoted by AFP.

(source: Agerpres)