The government's 2009 white paper on defense details recent military moves by China and North Korea. Japan must closely watch the situation in Northeast Asia and carefully make the necessary adjustments to create an environment that will reduce the chances of confrontation, military or political.
With regard to China, "Defense of Japan 2009" focuses on China's interest in possessing an aircraft carrier as well as the modernization of its air force and navy to protect its sea lanes and interests in the ocean.
It pays particular attention to the fact that, for the first time, a Chinese flotilla of four naval ships sailed into the Pacific Ocean through the Tsugaru Strait between Honshu and Hokkaido in October 2008, and then passed between Okinawa and Miyako islands in November; and that a Chinese survey ship entered Japanese territorial waters near the Senkaku islets in December.