The government is set to express grave concern in its upcoming defense white paper over the deepening military cooperation between China and Russia, a draft showed Thursday.
The draft says China's moves to strengthen its cooperation with Russia are a serious concern for Japan's security, describing Beijing's military moves as the biggest strategic challenge ever.
The Defense Ministry plans to submit the 2025 defense white paper to a Cabinet meeting in July after making further adjustments.
With moves by China and Russia in mind, the paper will state that unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force are a serious challenge to the existing international order.
The international community has entered a new crisis era, the draft says. It basically reuses expressions related to China and Russia from those that appeared in the 2023 and 2024 white papers.
The draft mentions an intrusion by a Chinese warplane into Japanese airspace over waters off the Danjo islands in Nagasaki Prefecture in August 2024. It also refers to the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning's entry into Japanese contiguous zone in the Nansei southwestern island chain in September of the same year, showing strong concerns.
The draft also refers to the launch in January this year of U.S. President Donald Trump's second administration, saying that moves by the United States have a great impact on the security environment in the Indo-Pacific region.
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