Japan’s Ministry of Defense appears to be increasing its focus on Taiwan and the threat from China, which views Taiwan—a self-ruled island—as a renegade province to be reunited with the mainland.
Japan devoted 10 pages of its annual defense report (pdf) to Taiwan, double the pages of the previous year’s edition, giving an extensive overview of the security situation there.
The annual defense report stated that stability surrounding Taiwan is “critical for Japan’s security” and must be “closely monitored with a sense of urgency” while cooperating with the international community.
“China has made clear that it would not hesitate to unify Taiwan by force, further increasing tensions in the region,” Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said in the report released on July 22….