Japan’s Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has strongly rejected China’s characterisation of Japan as a remilitarising power, turning the criticism back on Beijing at the Shangri-la Dialogue defence summit in Singapore.
Koizumi argued that China’s own rapidly expanding military arsenal, including nuclear weapons and strategic bombers, represented a far greater concern to the international community than Japan’s defensive build-up. He insisted Japan’s military modernisation was entirely natural and would proceed with full transparency and ongoing dialogue with regional partners.
Beijing had warned the previous week that a remilitarised Japan represented a gathering threat, calling on the international community to contain what it termed Tokyo’s neo-militarism. Koizumi dismissed this framing as far from the truth.
Japan has increased its defence budget for twelve consecutive years, with its latest allocation exceeding 57 billion dollars. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has pursued an ambitious defence agenda since taking office in October 2025, including new missile systems, drone acquisitions, relaxed weapons export rules, and a push to revise Japan’s pacifist constitutional clause.
The military build-up has divided Japanese public opinion, with some of the country’s largest anti-war protests in decades taking place in recent months.
