With Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike's newly established Kibo no To (Party of Hope) expected to become a major force in the House of Representatives after the Oct. 22 general election, her prospective foreign and security policies have begun to attract attention. Should Koike, thought to ...
On a landmark visit to Russia, Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz al-Saud Salman and President Vladimir Putin were set on Thursday to clinch a host of multibillion-dollar energy and defense deals despite discord over the Syrian war. The first official trip to Russia by ...
The United States approved the sale of 56 advanced medium-range missiles to Japan for an estimated ¥12.6 billion ($113 million), the State Department said Wednesday as the two allies face a growing missile and nuclear threat from North Korea. The planned sale of the AIM-120C-7 ...
Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera urged caution on Friday as further provocation from North Korea is anticipated on Oct. 10, when the start of Lower House election coincides with one of the North's main anniversaries. Tensions have risen on the Korean Peninsula since reclusive North Korea ...
China wants to improve its military relationship with Singapore, but is resolutely opposed to any country having defense ties with self-ruled Taiwan, China's Defence Ministry said on Thursday, obliquely criticizing Singapore's Taiwan links. China is suspicious of the city state's good military relations both with ...
In his final Counterpoint column, Jeff Kingston considers where Japan is heading under scandal-hit Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Senior lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party agreed on Wednesday that while the party may include constitutional revision as an official campaign pledge in the upcoming Lower House election, it will not specify details on how it plans to revise the war-renouncing Article ...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday called for boosting the country's defenses in the face of North Korean threats, warning that Tokyo needs to be able to protect itself. Abe has long advocated a stiffening of Japan's military posture, despite the pacifist nature of the ...
Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said Wednesday that Japan now estimates a bomb North Korea tested Sunday had a yield of about 160 kilotons, based on a definitive analysis of the magnitude of the seismic activity observed during the detonation. The Japanese government had initially put ...
Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera and his Indian counterpart, Arun Jaitley, confirmed Tuesday the necessity of increasing pressure on North Korea in cooperation with the international community, amid Pyongyang's advancing nuclear arms and missile development. The Indian defense chief's visit to Japan followed North Korea's sixth ...
The threat of North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs should not be an excuse for an unchecked expansion in defense spending.
The Defense Ministry on Thursday requested a record-high budget of ¥5.26 trillion for fiscal 2018, underscoring heightened concern over what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the "unprecedented" and "grave" security threat posed by North Korea's military provocations. This request, if approved by the government, would ...
