Overview
- Japan’s 15-member panel, which held its first meeting Monday, began rewriting the National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy and Defense Buildup Program with recommendations due later this year.
- Takaichi’s cabinet last week removed decades-old limits on selling lethal weapons, opening exports to 17 partner countries and clearing the way for deals such as Australia’s $6.5 billion order for 11 Mogami-class frigates.
- The prime minister says Japan must prepare for drone-heavy and long wars, citing lessons from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East to justify stronger forces and supply resilience.
- China’s Foreign Ministry condemned the policy turn as “remilitarization,” invoking post‑WWII legal instruments and warning that Tokyo is abandoning its “exclusively defense-oriented” posture.
- Tokyo has already met its 2% of GDP defense-spending goal, allies like the United States and Australia welcomed closer cooperation, and pacifist groups at home criticized the changes as a break with Article 9 norms.