Japan's Strategic Turn
The country is taking once-unthinkable steps to ensure its own defense.
TL;DR
- Japan's geopolitical environment has drastically changed since 30 years ago, with China's economic and military rise, and North Korea's nuclear advancements.
- Defense spending has increased from 1% to 1.4% of GDP, with plans to reach 2% or more.
- Japan is acquiring "counterstrike" weapons, investing in cyber and space operations, and building passive defense infrastructure.
- The country is newly willing to export weapons and has created its first centralized intelligence agency since WWII.
- There's a noticeable shift in attitudes towards nuclear weapons, with officials focusing on deterrence and exploring "dual key" arrangements with the U.S.
- Heightened Japanese anxieties stem from Chinese incursions near the Senkaku Islands, joint Chinese-Russian military activities, and growing nuclear arsenals in China and North Korea.
- Japan views a peaceful takeover of Taiwan by China as a major setback and considers a Chinese naval blockade of Taiwan a "survival-threatening situation."