Japan’s PM promises a “drastic” increase in military capacity in the face of the threat from China

Nov. 6 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida promised this Sunday that he will do everything possible to increase his country’s defensive military capacity in the face of tension arising from Chinese maritime operations.

“The security environment surrounding our country, including the East China Sea and the South China Sea, is rapidly becoming more serious,” Kishida said during an inspection visit to the aircraft carrier ‘Izumo’.

“There is no time to lose in this regard,” Kishida said during the inspection of the aircraft carrier, one of 18 warships from 12 countries that have participated in an international fleet review, including the United States, Australia, Canada, India. , New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea in Sagami Bay, southwest of Tokyo.

Japan, it should be remembered, has steadily increased its international defense role and military spending over the past decade, and plans to double its military budget over the next decade to about 2 percent of GDP, based on the NATO standard.

From there, Kishida also denounced the danger that the latest launches from North Korea represent for the country.

“North Korea fired a missile that flew over our country,” Kishida recalled in reference to the North Korean projectile fired on October 4, before promising that Japan “will never tolerate that country’s nuclear and missile development,” in statements collected by the official Japanese news agency Kyodo.

The prime minister has also reiterated about Ukraine that his country considers the Russian invasion as unacceptable. “Unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force, such as the invasion of Ukraine, should never be tolerated anywhere in the world,” he said.

This Sunday, Kishida and US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emmanuel will visit the USS ‘Ronald Reagan’, the only aircraft carrier based outside the US mainland, anchored off the US naval base in Yokosuka.