TOKYO — Japan unveiled a sweeping national security strategy Tuesday that will boost defense spending and see troops and equipment shifted to the nation's southwest islands — part of a move to develop the capability to wrest remote islands away from would-be attackers.
The plan is a reflection of Japan's growing concerns over China's increasing military assertiveness and territorial demands. And it marks another milestone in hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plans to strengthen Japan's defense establishment and ease post-war restrictions on the armed forces.
"The security situation around Japan has become even more severe and in order to maintain peace it is necessary to implement national security policies in a more strategic and structured manner," Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday. "This does not in any way change Japan's pacifist policies, which have been consistent throughout the post-war period," the ministry said.
The comments were made at a press briefing as officials introduced Japan's first-ever National Security Strategy.
Under the plan, which sets out both policy and budget goals, Japan will spend some $240 billion over the next five years on new equipment and related costs.
Surveillance drones and long-range surveillance planes will be acquired to patrol the East China Sea and other waters surrounding Japan. Nearly half of Japan's ground forces will be re-configured for rapid deployment.
For the first time, Japan will buy V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, amphibious assault vehicles and other equipment designed primarily for amphibious warfare.
"This is a sensible plan and it's long overdue," said Grant Newsham, a senior research fellow at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies, in Tokyo, and a former Marine Corps liaison with the Japan Ground Self Defense Force.
"It lays out a road map of how the Japan Self Defense Force will transform into something more capable and more able to defend Japan. And it's one more step in the psychological change Japan has to make in order to play a part in its own defense. It doesn't call for replacing the Americans, but it does see Japan playing something closer to a proper role."
By treaty, U.S. forces are obligated to defend Japan if its territory comes under attack. About 50,000 U.S. troops and the powerful 7th Fleet are based in Japan.
Japanese officials have voiced increasing concerns about Chinese military activity in the region, including creation of a new air defense zone in the East China Sea that includes a group of uninhabited islands administered by Japan but claimed by China.
A spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry said last week that Japanese concerns are misplaced.
"China is closely watching Japan's security strategy," spokesman Hong Lei said. "Japan's hyping of the so-called China threat theory has ulterior political motives."
