Japan Highlights China Challenge in Tougher Security Policy
- Documents meet welcome from US, objections from Beijing
- Defense Ministry plans to develop its own hypersonic missiles
Japan Ground Self-Defense Force and soldiers of the British Army take part in the joint field exercise in Shinto Village, Gunma, Japan.
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
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Japan described China as an “unprecedented strategic challenge” in a new national security policy that sets the long-pacifist nation on course for its biggest increase in defense spending since the end of World War II.
The new strategy, approved by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s cabinet Friday and seen by Bloomberg in a draft, laid out plans for Japan to develop its own hypersonic missiles as part of a radical upgrade of its defense capabilities, from the coast guard to cybersecurity.