Japan Urges Military Buildup with 'Sense of Urgency' Amid China, Russia, North Korea Threats
Japan’s Defence Minister, Shinjiro Koizumi, said that Tokyo needs to strengthen its military with a “sense of urgency and crisis”. This follows the Japanese government’s latest assessment, which once again highlights the growing risk from China, Russia and North Korea.
Japan has increased military spending and security cooperation across Asia, even deploying missile launchers to its outermost islands, seeking to acquire “counter-strike” capabilities, and relaxing its arms export rules.
However, Koizumi, as reported by AFP on Tuesday (4/8/2026), said that Japan still needs to further strengthen its defence capabilities with a “sense of urgency and crisis”.
“It is vitally important for Japan to further strengthen and transform its defence capabilities with a stronger sense of urgency and crisis than ever before,” the Japanese Defence Minister declared in the foreword to the annual defence white paper.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Koizumi noted, “it is not only China and North Korea that continue to strengthen their military capabilities; China-Russia and Russia-North Korea are also deepening their cooperation”.
The latest Japanese defence white paper states that China is “intensifying its activities” in the waters and airspace around Japan. It notes that Beijing’s activities “are expanding from what is known as the first island chain to the second island chain”.
The white paper records a series of incidents in 2025, including Chinese aircraft carrier operations and “unusual close-range manoeuvres” by Chinese aircraft against Japanese aircraft in two separate incidents in June and July of that year.
Japanese fighter jets were scrambled 595 times in the year to 31 March 2026, comprising 366 missions in response to Chinese aircraft and 214 missions in response to Russian aircraft. This figure is lower than the previous year, which recorded 704 scrambles of Japanese fighter jets.
In April, Japan decided to scrap its long-standing ban on arms exports. However, the latest defence white paper highlights various problems in the domestic production base that could threaten the smooth procurement of equipment and innovation.
Koizumi also said that he and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had “exchanged views openly” on the “robust” Tokyo-Washington alliance. He added that Japan is also enhancing security cooperation with the Philippines, Australia and South Korea to realise a “free and open Indo-Pacific”.
“Amid a security situation that is deteriorating rapidly, what is now needed is to strengthen resilience against crises across the entire Indo-Pacific region,” Koizumi said in the defence white paper.