Japan, a professed pacifist nation since the end of World War II, is set to become the planet's third-biggest military spender. It will be armed with U.S.-built missiles capable of striking China.
"When threats become reality, can the Self-Defense Force fully protect our country?"the prime ministerThe five-year military spending proposal approved by his cabinetthat"counterstrike capacity is necessary," though it won't be implemented prior to 2026, when the deployment of U.S.-built cruise missiles is set to begin.
Although successive Japanese governments have intimated that counterstrikes to neutralize foreign attacks would be permissible under the country's long-standing military restrictions, there had previously been little appetite for ensuring such capability.
However, the growing military might of China, a record number of North Korean missile launches in recent months, and escalating fears that China could emulate Russia by invading nearby Taiwan have provoked a shift in public opinion, with surveys"Still, in a nod to the sensitivity of the issue, the documents rule out preemptive strikes, and insist Japan is committed to 'an exclusively defense-oriented policy,'"Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Friday warned...
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