Major US Ally Reverses Course, Announces Largest Military Buildup Since WWII Amid Rising China Threat
Japan unveiled a plan Friday to give its military the largest boost since World War II, a response to escalating security challenges from China and other adversarial neighbors.
The supersized $320 billion defense plan includes funding for purchasing missiles capable of striking China and transform the once-pacifist country into the world’s third-largest defense spender, Reuters reported. Japan’s new National Security Strategy highlights a rising, militant China as Japan’s most significant security threat and a world destabilized by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling for a robust military buildup in response.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the country stood at a “turning point in history” at a press conference Friday. He described Japan’s military escalation as an “answer to the various security challenges that we face.”
Japan’s leaders view Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as setting a precedent for China to invade Taiwan, threatening Japanese territorial integrity, as well as disrupting supply chains for oil and semiconductors, according to Reuters,
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a serious violation of laws that forbid the use of force and has shaken the foundations of the international order,” the strategy paper said, according to Reuters. “The strategic challenge posed by China is the biggest Japan has ever faced.”
Japan’s plan also involves stockpiling defense articles and investing in offensive cyber capabilities, according to Reuters.
A separate strategy document also calls for enhanced defense cooperation with allies, especially the U.S., recognizedglobally as having taken the lead in confronting belligerence from Russia and China, Reuters reported.
Washington hailed the announcement Friday. Japan’s new initiative will “strengthen and modernize” the longstanding U.S.-Japan military alliance, White House National Security Adviser Sullivan said in a statement.
Japan’s constitution, crafted with U.S. input after WWII, forbade Japan from waging war or developing the means to act in an offensive manner, and dismantled the imperial army, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Since the 1970s, Japan rebuilt a “small but significant” military, which was authorized to conduct collective defense missions, and established a dialogue with the U.S. around joint defense cooperation.
“This is setting a new heading for Japan. If appropriately executed, the Self-Defense Forces will be a real, world-class effective force,” retired Admiral Yoji Koda said, according to Reuters.
Japan’s defense spending will double to 2% of gross domestic product over the next five years, skyrocketing past the 1% limit self-imposed in 1976, according to Reuters.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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Japan is being responsible to its population. It can no longer rely on the United
states for the military capability to deter China. The current U.S. president is utterly unreliable in any event.
The real danger has always been China, not Russia. As if the 30 NATO member nations weren’t enough to stop any westward expansion by Putin, so we are now sending endless billions (over a hundred billion so far) to a corrupt Ukraine government for another regime change war that we didn’t want, didn’t vote on, can’t win, and was never in our national security interest. And, oh yeah, for a war that we partly provoked by pushing Ukraine to join NATO; knowing that it was a “red line” for Putin. How did those “regime change” wars work out in Iraq or in Afghanistan where we spent 2 trillion over 20 years only to see a disastrous withdrawal where we gave the Taliban tens of billions of dollars of our weapons and top of line equipment.
So to prepare for the future our military has destroyed the last meritocracy by going “woke”, even though they can’t even meet 70% of their recruiting goals. Historically, our naturally diverse all volunteer army has still been made up (57%) primarily of patriotic young white men. Why on earth would they continue to join to be told that they are “racist” and “oppressors”? The staffing crises will become catastrophic. So to solve the problem, the same people that are responsible for the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, are hiring transgenders and painting “rainbow bullets” on Marine helmets in recruiting ads.
The Chinese are rolling on the ground laughing; preparing to take Taiwan and buying politicians and businesses and property galore in America. They now own the biggest pork producer in American and are allowed to buy as much U.S. property as they desire. Then there’s the 300,00 Chinese students in our universities (all taking STEM courses and not majoring in “Gender studies”) many of whom will end up being employed by defense contractors or in hi tech companies where they are required to spy for the CCP if asked. Biden and Hunter took tens of millions from the CCP and are so compromised by China that he won’t even dare to speak against them much less take any actions against them. God help us……