June 22, 2023
Japan’s Role in Advancing a Networked Regional Security Architecture
Japan’s recent release of its National Security Strategy (NSS) and National Defense Strategy (NDS)—along with its announcement to increase defense spending to 2 percent of GDP by 2027—heralds a new era of defense prioritization for Tokyo. A reflection of its growing concern about the evolving security landscape in the Indo-Pacific, Japan’s new defense policies will allow it to contribute to a networked security architecture that will enhance deterrence and help maintain a peaceful, ruled-based order in the Indo-Pacific.
In the end, networked deterrence is not about militarization; it is about being prepared and preventing aggression and conflict.
In its new security documents, Japan is clear about the need to protect Taiwan from intensifying military intimidation and coercion. The NSS says Japan will “prevent the emergence of a situation in which any one state can unilaterally change the status quo,” while the NDS highlights the five ballistic missiles that landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone on August 4, 2022, during China’s four-day military exercises in the Taiwan Strait following former U.S. House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. This situation brought home to Japan that China’s intensifying coercive military activities against Taiwan will directly impact Japan’s own security. The NSS asserts that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is indispensable to international peace and security, connecting the future of Taiwan directly with global stability.
Read the full article from CSIS.
More from CNAS
-
Trump 2.0 and Security in Asia
Video
Donald Trump is bringing his "America First" agenda back to U.S. foreign policy. What could this mean for Japan and the partners in Asia? Akira Igata, an Adjunct Senior Fellow...
By Akira Igata
-
Syria: What Happened and What Comes Next
Video
After more than a decade of civil war involving major interventions from foreign powers, over the past week a rebel alliance incredibly rapidly gained control of city after ci...
By Richard Fontaine
-
The Future of Russia and China in Central Asia
Podcast
Despite the many proclamations that Russian and Chinese interests would collide in Central Asia, Moscow and Beijing continue to work together in service of their shared object...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend
-
Russia and China in Central Asia
Reports
Executive Summary Despite the many proclamations that Russian and Chinese interests would collide in Central Asia, Moscow and Beijing continue to work together in service of t...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Lisa Curtis, Kate Johnston & Nathaniel Schochet
