US Welcomes Japan's New National Security Strategy

The US State Department has issued a statement commending Japan's new National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy, and Defense Buildup Program.

• According to the statement, "Japan’s new documents reshape the ability of our Alliance to promote peace and protect the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region and around the world."
• Japan's new strategy documents shed a pacific doctrine which has guided policy in the post-war period, committing to a defence budget of two-percent. The new budget which is inline with the NATO benchmark will give Japan the third largest defence budget in the world.
• Washington Post: "Wary of the growing military threat posed by China, North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Japan is poised to take a tougher stance to defend itself and improve its capabilities to do so."
• Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters today: “Each and every one of us must have the awareness that we are protecting our country. This is very important as we have learned from Ukraine. We are now at a turning point of our national security policy.”