The government's 2015 defense white paper, formally reported to the Cabinet last week, has been revised after its initial draft was rejected by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's national defense panel in early July on the grounds that it was being "too soft" on China. Including its expanded description on China's activities to build an offshore gas platform in the East China Sea, the white paper pays particular attention to China's maritime assertiveness in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, and stresses that the security situation surrounding Japan has become "increasingly tough." It says that China "has been continuing activities seen as high-handed to alter the status quo by force and has attempted to materialize its unilateral claim without making compromise."
By highlighting the threat posed by China, the government appears to be trying to use the white paper to drum up public support for the Abe administration's controversial security legislation, which paves the way for Japan's use of force in collective self-defense and significantly expands the scope of the Self-Defense Forces' overseas missions.
The white paper implicitly underlines the importance of boosting Japan's security deterrence by saying that due to the military buildup and increasing military activities of its neighbors — an apparent reference to China and North Korea — security problems and destabilizing factors in the Asia-Pacific regions are becoming serious. The report says it is more and more difficult for Japan alone to cope with the situation, apparently referring to the need to beef up military ties with the United States — the basic idea behind the security bills. But possible contingencies involving the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea — the source of a bitter territorial row and diplomatic tension between Tokyo and Beijing — are matters that can be dealt with by Japan through the exercise of its right to individual self-defense.