Japan eyes classifying defence guidelines amid China, Russia threats

The idea of partially classifying Japan’s national defence guidelines, under a major policy review into the country’s security by year-end, is being floated to better deal with increased regional security threats by China and Russia, government sources said on Saturday.

Making the revised version of the National Defence programme Guidelines, a 10-year defence build-up policy, confidential would be in line with the mostly classified US National Defence Strategy and enable Japan to be more specific in its strategy toward contingencies also involving North Korea, the sources said.

The guidelines, which are now publicly available, are one of three documents the government is reviewing by the year-end, with focus on the politically sensitive issue of whether Japan can acquire capabilities to attack enemy bases in counterstrike given its exclusively-defence oriented policy under the war-renouncing Constitution.

The two others to be updated are the National Security Strategy and the midterm defence build-up programme, which specifies development plans and costs every five years.

The possible move to classify portions of the guidelines follows recommendations by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party as well as by some of the security and diplomacy experts invited to the government’s closed-door hearings, bearing in mind the regional security challenges, the sources said.

China has been intensifying its maritime assertiveness in the East and South China seas, including the Chinese-claimed Diaoyu Islands, that Tokyo controls and calls the Senkaku Islands, as well as stepping up its military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February, has raised concerns over its unilateral attempts to change the status quo, which could reverberate in Asia amid tensions over Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic island that China regards as its territory.