Japan’s defense minister took a veiled swipe at China on Sunday, pledging to continue building up its military despite Beijing’s criticism of Tokyo’s increasingly assertive security stance.
Under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Japan has accelerated its shift toward a more proactive defense policy, and with U.S. encouragement, it has further moved away from its pacifist outlook since the end of World War II.
The change has often drawn condemnation from Beijing, which accuses Tokyo of pursuing reckless “new militarism” policies that could destabilize the region.
Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi hit back on Sunday, saying “nothing could be further from the truth.”
“Think about it. There is a country that has a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and strategic bombers,” Koizumi said at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
“Isn’t it strange that Japan does not have such weapons yet is labeled as ‘new militarism’?” he said, without mentioning China by name.
China is believed to possess hundreds of nuclear warheads and has been rapidly developing its military capabilities in recent years.
A diplomatic spat between the two Asian rivals has been simmering since Gao Yi suggested in November that Japan might intervene militarily if China tried to occupy Taiwan. Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its territory.
Koizumi Junichiro said that China is expanding its military capabilities “without sufficient transparency” and that its military activities are a “matter of serious concern for Japan.”
He said Tokyo would “steadily enhance its defense capabilities and continuously update them with a high degree of transparency” including in the fields of artificial intelligence, unmanned systems and cyber and space defense.
“Japan used to be a peace-loving country that was valued by the region and the international community. This fact will not be shaken by false claims because it is a fact,” he said.
The Shangri-La Dialogue is Asia’s top defense forum, bringing together security officials and experts from about 45 countries.
Unlike Japan and its ally the United States, China sent a streamlined delegation for the second year in a row that did not include Defense Minister Dong Jun.
Koizumi said he was “sad that we did not have the opportunity to meet this time.”
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This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
