Japan wants to deploy over 1,000 long-range missiles to counter Chinese threat

Members of Japan's Self-Defense Force lower the national flag at JGSDF Miyako camp (illustration photo) © Issei Kato, Reuters

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

Faced with rising tensions in Asia since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Japan is accelerating the acquisition of new defense capabilities.

newspaper suggests

, in response to a possible invasion of Taiwan by China, missile strikes from North Korea and increased military activities by Russia in the Sea of ​​Japan.

Advertising

Read more

With our correspondent in Tokyo,

Japan wants to deploy a thousand missiles in the south of the archipelago, on the island of Kyushu but also on

.

The range of its anti-ship missiles would increase from 100 kilometers to a thousand kilometers.

This would allow them to reach the coastal areas of China and

.

The

newspaper adds that Japanese planes and ships would also be equipped with the ability to launch new missiles that can hit ground targets.

In a television studio, the former Japanese Minister of Defense Itsunori Onodera declares that Japan must demonstrate to the countries tempted to attack it that they would expose themselves to

.

The country must also show the same courage as Ukraine if it wants to count on the support of its allies to defend it.

This is one of the lessons that Japan must draw from the war in Ukraine, further asserts Itsunori Onodera.

Change of Constitution

Since the beginning of the European conflict, Japan plans to double its defense spending to reach 2% of its GDP.

The Chinese military budget, around 225 billion euros, is five to six times higher than that of Japan.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chinese and Russian ships and bombers have been looming off the coast of Japan.

While Russian submarines have fired cruise missiles of the same type used in Ukraine,

around the Senkaku Islands, administered by Japan but claimed by Beijing.

Japan depends for its defense on the security treaty with the United States.

However, it is also seeking to

to adapt it to the evolution of the international situation.

►Also read:

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

• Japan

• Defense

• China

• Taiwan

• North Korea