Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi used an unusually tough speech Saturday at a key regional security forum to push for more cooperation in combating unilateral attempts by “rule-flouting" countries seeking to change the status quo via the threat of nuclear weapons.

Japan is on the “front lines” of a battle with such states, Kishi said, including nuclear-armed Russia, China and North Korea, which all neighbor his country.

“Japan is surrounded by actors that both possess or are developing nuclear weapons and are ignoring the rules, but also, year by year, they are becoming more open in their disregard for them,” Kishi said in a speech in Singapore at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit.

“The world is now in the midst of a competition between countries protecting the rules-based international order and those attempting to change the order by force,” he added.

In particular, the defense minister had strong words for Russia over its bloody invasion of Ukraine — and the implications of the conflict for Asia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has delivered veiled threats to use his nuclear arsenal in the conflict.

Concerns have grown in the region, especially in Tokyo, that China, which the U.S. says is bolstering its own nuclear weapons program, could take a page from Russia’s playbook, using its atomic arsenal to prevent democratic Taiwan’s partners from coming to its defense were Beijing to invade the self-ruled island.

China views Taiwan as a renegade province that must be brought back into the fold, by force if necessary, and calls the island its most important “core issue.”

But Taiwan’s strategic location as a gateway into the Pacific just 100 kilometers from Japanese territory has unnerved officials in Tokyo, with some senior lawmakers warning that an invasion of the democratic island would represent an existential crisis for Japan.

Kishi on Saturday reiterated the government’s stance that “peace and stability” in the Taiwan Strait “is important not only to the security of Japan, but also the stability of the international community.”

“However, in this region, we are witnessing attempts to rapidly and comprehensively enhance military power without transparency. And even worse, the protagonist has never renounced the potential use of force against Taiwan,” he said in a thinly veiled reference to China.

“It is safe to say, the international community already shares the concern that a situation akin to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine could erupt in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.

But the defense chief said that countries seeking to replicate the Ukraine crisis could be deterred if said states are made “sufficiently cognizant” that resistance from both the invaded and the international community would be steadfast.

In light of the fraught security situation, Kishi said that Japan was revising key strategic documents expected to lay the foundation for the country’s security and diplomatic policy, while also accelerating “the fundamental reinforcement” of Japan’s defense capabilities. Asked about specifics, Kishi did not offer any other details of how Japan would finance the pledged defense spending hike.

On Tuesday, the government approved an annual policy plan outlining its mid- to long-term vision for Japan, but did not specifically mention the hotly debated defense spending figure of 2% of gross domestic product — despite a ruling party recommendation that the number be included. It did, however, set a five-year time frame for accomplishing the goal.

Ahead of a July Upper House election that could solidify the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s grip on power, the LDP on Thursday adopted pledges that include bolstering the country’s defense posture and securing so-called counterattack capabilities.

The LDP pledge reportedly aims to increase the country’s defense spending to “a necessary level” within the five years from fiscal 2023, starting next April. The goal was crafted keeping in mind NATO member countries’ commitment to defense spending equivalent to 2% of GDP.

Kishi's remarks followed a speech by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who reiterated Washington’s commitment to its allies, partners and like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific region — which he labeled the “center of strategic gravity."

They also echoed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s speech a day earlier in which he pledged to maintain the rules-based international order while enhancing Japan’s defense capabilities and bolstering regional security cooperation.