Right before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet approved the nation's new long-term National Security Strategy in mid-December, the independent think tank Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation, composed of prominent Japanese and American scholars, compiled its own approach.
Both the government and RJIF concur about many aspects in the two strategies, especially where they both see China's re-emergence and growing maritime assertiveness as concerning. However, their approaches to countering China differ.
While the government plans to enhance the capabilities of the Self-Defense Forces, including creating an amphibious force akin to the U.S. Marine Corps, the foundation is focused on what it calls "quiet deterrence."