Japan’s Defense White Paper: Talking Tough for a Change

Japan’s Defense White Paper: Talking Tough for a Change
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, and Japan's Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi attend the 2+2 Meeting at Iikura Guest House in Tokyo, Japan, on March 16, 2021. Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool/Reuters
Grant Newsham
Updated:
Commentary

Japan’s annual Defense White Paper normally gets a few days of attention and then fades away. Any changes from the previous year are usually marginal. And the language is generally veiled and toned down, so as not to offend anyone in Japan or elsewhere—except maybe the North Koreans whose missiles and nukes have been a “grave and imminent threat” for a long while.

Grant Newsham
Grant Newsham
Author
Grant Newsham is a retired U.S. Marine officer and a former U.S. diplomat and business executive with many years in the Asia/Pacific region. He is a senior fellow with the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies (Tokyo) and Center for Security Policy and the Yorktown Institute in Washington, D.C. He is the author of the best selling book “When China Attacks: A Warning to America.”
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