The possibility of a “serious situation” akin to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine occurring in East Asia “cannot be ruled out,” according to the government’s new defense white paper released Friday, in a view widely seen as highlighting fears of conflict over democratic Taiwan.
The annual report, which was approved by the Cabinet at a meeting the same day, is packed with tough assessments of what it says is an increasingly fraught regional security environment that includes an aggressive China, nuclear-armed North Korea and revanchist Russia.
“The international community has entered the most trying time of the postwar era,” Defense Minister Minoru Kihara writes in a preface to the report. “The existing order has been seriously challenged, and we recognize that we are entering a new era of crisis.”