{"id":45479,"date":"2026-06-22T22:23:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T22:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/45479\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T22:23:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T22:23:07","slug":"japans-defence-outreach-to-counter-chinas-military-rise-hits-hidden-roadblocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/45479\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan\u2019s defence outreach to counter China\u2019s military rise hits hidden roadblocks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Japan seized the spotlight at last month\u2019s Shangri-La Dialogue<\/a>, stepping into a vacuum left by the Chinese defence chief<\/a> \u2013 who skipped the forum for a second year \u2013 and using the stage to sharpen its warnings over Beijing\u2019s military rise.<\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s prominence was amplified when a scheduled session on China\u2019s cooperative partnerships in the Asia-Pacific \u2013 a slot that would have offered Beijing a platform to present its vision for regional security \u2013 was cancelled.<\/p>\n

\"Japan\u2019sJapan\u2019s Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi delivers a speech during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on May 31. Photo: AP<\/p>\n

Tokyo made headlines during the forum when Koizumi took the unusual step of meeting US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in a clear bid for public reassurance that Washington remains fully committed to Asia. While it was meant to project a strong, united front between the US and Japan, it exposed Japan\u2019s anxiety about its own security and dependence on the alliance.<\/p>\n

In a sign that Tokyo is building the capabilities of a military power, Koizumi and other top officials last year floated the idea of Japan constructing nuclear-powered attack submarines, potentially breaking the country\u2019s nuclear taboo amid suggestions both inside<\/a> and outside the country<\/a> that it could eventually acquire nuclear weapons.Beyond the rhetoric, Tokyo has stepped up its expansion of a network of security partnerships that unnerves Beijing,<\/a> which views it as a potential threat to regional stability. Japan and the Philippines moved ahead with expanded defence cooperation, including negotiations on an agreement to protect classified military information.<\/p>\n

Analysts view these developments as critical links in a multilayered regional military architecture that is being forged as US commitment is perceived as waning across Asia, and amid Beijing\u2019s eagerness to capitalise on the resulting vacuum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japan seized the spotlight at last month\u2019s Shangri-La Dialogue, stepping into a vacuum left by the Chinese defence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5730,549,12,2937,553,1180,8,27,33,23,23593,245,52,25,3283,15556],"class_list":["post-45479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-asean","tag-beijing","tag-china","tag-diaoyu-islands","tag-east-china-sea","tag-indo-pacific","tag-japan","tag-manila","tag-nihon","tag-philippines","tag-shangri-la-dialogue","tag-south-china-sea","tag-tokyo","tag-us","tag-washington","tag-wellington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}