The ruling Liberal Democratic Party unveiled its campaign platform on Thursday ahead of an Upper House election set for next month, shifting to a sharper focus on diplomacy and defense — including its first-ever pledge to deter regional missile threats to Japan by acquiring a so-called counterstrike capability.

“We will maintain the ability to counterattack against any armed assaults on Japan, including with the use of ballistic missiles, allowing us to deter and respond to such attacks in kind,” LDP policy chief Sanae Takaichi told journalists at a news conference to announce the party’s platform.

According to that platform, the government will “continue to strengthen Japan’s capabilities and build up its posture in response to changes in 'fighting styles' that employ state-of-the-art technology.”

The explicit mention of acquiring a counterstrike capability, which until recently had been referred to as an “enemy base strike capability,” comes amid growing concerns that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could be replicated in East Asia, as well as fears over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

But critics say any move to acquire the capability to strike enemy bases would deviate from Japan’s traditional interpretation of its pacifist Constitution and the country’s exclusively defense-oriented policy.

The LDP’s decision to zero-in on diplomacy and defense was a noticeable shift from the October Lower House election platform, which largely focused on tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and highlighting the economic policies of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The platform’s release also comes on the heels of several high-profile diplomatic and security summits and meetings by Kishida, including last week’s Shangri-La Dialogue security confab and last month’s talks with U.S. President Joe Biden.

Still, many of the policies in the document, including the counterstrike capability decision, had been telegraphed well ahead of its release.

While the platform highlighted a need to “protect Japan via resolute diplomatic and security measures” by noting a pledge to “drastically strengthen the country’s defenses within five years,” Kishida had endorsed that plan earlier this month after a similar LDP recommendation in late April.

The view was also unveiled earlier this month in an annual policy plan outlining the government’s fiscal vision, though both the policy plan and LDP platform did not explicitly set a target for Japan to spend 2% of gross domestic product on defense within the five-year time frame.

Instead, the platform echoed last year’s by referencing NATO countries’ commitment to spending 2% of GDP on defense as a “consideration.”

Japan set aside a record ¥5.4 trillion ($40.2 billion) for defense spending in the current fiscal year, and some, including Takaichi, have said they believe the budget needs to be nearly doubled to around ¥10 trillion.

"Without a strong focus on defense, Japan, its people and its economy would cease to exist," she told journalists at Thursday's announcement.

But a massive hike in the defense budget would be a sensitive issue in Japan, which has long had an informal cap on spending at around 1% of GDP.

In a normal election year, such issues would be unlikely to attract voters, but these discussions have been catapulted to the top of the agenda by the war in Ukraine — and how the conflict has triggered fears of a potential Chinese invasion of neighboring Taiwan.

China views the self-ruled island as part of its sovereign territory that needs be brought back into the fold, with some in Beijing advocating the use of force.

This has prompted a growing number of lawmakers in Tokyo, as well as an increasingly sympathetic public, to view any invasion of Taiwan — which sits just 110 kilometers away from Okinawa’s Yonaguni Island — as an emergency for Japan, as well.

Some experts believe Beijing might attempt to knock out key military sites that Chinese military strategists view as staging grounds for any U.S. and Japanese defense of the self-ruled island, especially those in nearby Okinawa Prefecture.

Reflecting these concerns, the LDP pledged in its platform to “protect Japan's independence, honor, the lives and citizens and their property, as well as its sovereignty over its territory, territorial waters and airspace” while “strengthening cooperation” with allies and partners, including Taiwan, “toward the realization of a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific.’”

As for revising the country’s war-renouncing Constitution, the LDP has proposed changes to four areas “at the earliest possible date,” including clarifying the legal status of the Self-Defense Forces and establishing an emergency clause to better respond to situations such as pandemics and disasters.

To cope with soaring oil and commodity costs, the party has pledged to support industries hammered by rising prices and to continue measures to reduce fuel-price hikes.

In regard to measures against the coronavirus, the LDP said it would work to secure therapeutic drugs and domestically manufactured vaccines while strengthening preparations for future potential crises.