Japan warns of crisis over Taiwan in defence paper

Japan directly broached the subject of Taiwan security for the first time in its annual defence review released yesterday, as it raised the alarm over the growing brinkmanship and arms race in the region.

"Stabilising the situation surrounding Taiwan is important for Japan's security and the stability of the international community," the Defence Ministry said in its annual White Paper.

"Therefore, it is necessary that we pay close attention to the situation with a sense of crisis more than ever before."

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry thanked Japan for attaching importance to security in the Taiwan Strait.

But the document provoked China, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian lambasting Japan for making baseless accusations about Beijing's "normal" defence build-up and legitimate military actions.

"This is extremely wrong and irresponsible," he said. "China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposes the report."

The language used by Japan's Defence Ministry goes further than that in last year's report, which had merely noted that the overall military balance between China and Taiwan is tilting in China's favour, with the gap appearing to be growing year by year.

The latest report said: "Attention should be paid to trends such as the strengthening of Chinese and Taiwanese forces, the sale of weapons to Taiwan by the United States, and Taiwan's own development of its main military equipment."

It cited how China has been further intensifying military activities around Taiwan, including the entry of Chinese aircraft into Taiwanese airspace.

It noted that the United States has "demonstrated a clear stance of supporting Taiwan in military aspects", through weapon sales and the transit of US vessels through the Taiwan Strait.

"While Washington has made clear its stance to support Taiwan militarily, it is unlikely that Beijing will make any compromises on its position given that Taiwan is its core interest," the report said. "As the conflict between the US and China over Taiwan is becoming ever more apparent, it is necessary for Japan to monitor developments with an acute sense of tension."

The White Paper also noted the tense security environment surrounding Japan, with the rapid military build-up by "military powers with high quality and quantity".

"Chinese military threats, combined with insufficient transparency about China's defence policies and military affairs, have become a matter of grave concern to the region," it said.

The report urged China to play a more cooperative role with the region and the international community to allay tensions.

China's defence budget of 1.36 trillion yuan (S$284.5 billion) this year, or a 6.8 per cent increase from last year, eclipses Japan's budgeted 5.34 trillion yen (S$65.5 billion), itself a rise of 0.5 per cent, the White Paper said.

Comparing their defence armada, China owns 52 modern submarines to Japan's 21, and 71 modern destroyers and frigates to Japan's 47. China also has a whopping 1,146 fourth-and fifth-generation fighter jets to Japan's 313.

"China has sustained high-level growth of its defence budget without transparency, engaging in broad, rapid improvement of its military power in qualitative and quantitative terms with focus on nuclear, missile, naval and air forces," the White Paper said.

It cited China's superiority in new domains such as space, cyber and the electromagnetic spectrum, as it warned of the growing threat of "hybrid warfare".

It also noted that longstanding issues of territorial rights remain unresolved, reiterating Japan's claim to islands over which it is embroiled in territorial disputes with its neighbours.

Japan administers the East China Sea islets which it calls Senkaku, a claim disputed by China, which calls them Diaoyu.

Japan also lays claim to the South Korea-administered Dokdo, which it calls Takeshima, in the Sea of Japan, which is referred to as the East Sea on the Korean peninsula.

It also claims the Russia-administered Southern Kuril islands, which it calls the Northern Territories.

Japan's defence review suggested one way to overcome regional security challenges was through the creation of a "regional cooperation framework in the security realm" that covers the Indo-Pacific region.

Japan seeks to do this through the "strategic promotion of multifaceted and multi-layered defence cooperation" under its Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision.