Japan steps up defence capabilities in new domains, with eye on China and Russia

Japan is ramping up its commitment to developing cutting-edge new capabilities in outer space, cyberspace and the electromagnetic domain – which includes communications and data collection and analysis – as a result of security challenges that have altered dramatically in the last decade, according to analysts.

There has been a gradual change in Japan’s defence posture since the end of the Cold War, during which military planners were tasked with preparing to repel an invasion of Hokkaido by Soviet Union forces and conducting conventional warfare involving tanks and other land-based units supported by air and, to a lesser extent, naval forces.

That has switched to a far greater focus on maritime and air capabilities in the islands that make up the far southwest of Japan, where the threat is today perceived to come from an aggressively expansionist China, although a watchful eye is also kept on the security threat posed by North Korea.

The Japanese government in late December approved a defence budget of a record 5.34 trillion yen (US$51.7 billion), up 1.1 per cent from the previous year. The defence ministry has earmarked 119.1 billion yen for outer space security measures, with 30.1 billion yen set aside for developments in the cyberspace sector. Under electromagnetic spectrum spending, some 2.8 billion yen will be invested in research on a new laser system designed to eliminate aerial threats such as drones, with a further 400 million yen to develop next-generation 5G communications technology.

“Japan’s primary concern today is China and the territorial dispute we are engaged with over the Senkaku Islands,” said Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor of international relations at Tokyo’s Waseda University, referring to the disputed archipelago in the East China Sea that Beijing refers to as the Diaoyu Islands and claims sovereignty over.