New Japanese Defense White Paper Draft Continues Rhetoric Against China to Justify Budget Increase: Expert

By Xu Keyue

May 12, 2025 12:17 AM

The draft Japanese defense white paper this year continues to claim China's military activities as "the greatest strategic challenge" in similar wording as last year, and states that Japan must advance cooperation and coordination with allies and "like-minded" countries. 

Chinese experts said Japanese government's amplification of these "threat" rhetoric is aimed at justifying its increased defense budget, and called on the international community to be alert to Japan's dangerous inclinations as the country continues to expand and strengthen its military capabilities while this year marks the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

According to the Japanese media outlet Kyodo News on Saturday, the draft of the 2025 edition of the Japanese defense white paper called China's military activities the "most significant and unprecedented strategic challenge." It also raises so-called concerns over joint China-Russia military flights and naval operations near Japan.

Additionally, the document references the increasing frequency of military exercises around the Taiwan Straits in 2024, Kyodo revealed.

According to Kyodo, regarding Japan's security environment, the draft warns that the nation is facing its "most severe challenges since World War II, entering a new era of crisis," citing intensifying US-China rivalry and the so-called potential for an incident similar to Russia-Ukraine conflict in East Asia. 

The draft further emphasizes that, against this backdrop, the Japanese government will prioritize the development of "standoff missiles" capable of striking targets beyond an adversary's attack range and possessing "counterstrike capabilities," as well as the establishment of a multi-satellite-linked intelligence-gathering system, in order to fundamentally bolster its defense capabilities this fiscal year, NHK reported on Saturday.

In recent years, Japan's defense white papers have repeatedly portrayed China as a hypothetical adversary and exaggerated the so-called "China threat" rhetoric, according to Chinese analysts.

Lü Yaodong, deputy director of the Institute of Japanese Studies from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that these China-related accusations in the draft are completely unfounded and are essentially aimed at creating trouble and hyping up the "China threat" rhetoric. It deliberately invokes China-US relations and compares the situation in East Asia to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the expert told the Global Times on Sunday.

Lü Yaodong believes that the Japanese government's amplification of these "threat" rhetoric is aimed at justifying its increased defense budget. Japan's "three key security documents," passed at the end of 2022, stipulate raising defense spending to around 2 percent of GDP during the 2023-2027 fiscal years. 

"When facing scrutiny, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party would struggle to explain the sharp increase in defense spending without exaggerating external threats," Lü Yaodong said. "Therefore, the Japanese government continues to hype up 'China threat' rhetoric in its annual defense white paper to propagate the narrative—both domestically and internationally—that Japan's security environment is deteriorating, the country is under threat, and it must strengthen its defense capabilities in response."

According to The Diplomat last December, Japan approved a 9.4 percent increase in defense spending for fiscal year 2025. For the 11th year in a row, the budget draft set a new record for national defense spending as Japan continues to pursue its Defense Buildup Program, The Diplomat reported.

Japan's current military strength far exceeds the needs of self-defense, growing more and more threatening to its neighbors and the Asia-Pacific region. This should raise widespread concern and vigilance among Asia-Pacific countries, Lü Chao, an expert at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday, adding that international community should be alert to Japan's dangerous inclinations as the country continues to expand and strengthen its military capabilities while this year marks the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.