Japan, in its first annual defense report released since the war in Ukraine, mentioned that deepening military cooperation between Russia and China, which included joint air and naval exercises, raised security concerns in the region.

The defense white paper endorsed by Prime Minister Kishida’s government identifies China, Russia and North Korea as its top security concerns.

The rivalries are clear

“The political, economic and military rivalries between nations are clear, and the challenge to the international order is a global problem,” the white paper said.

In the report released on Friday, the Defense Ministry detailed renewed concerns over the security of Taiwan, which China considers territory that must be reclaimed.

The section has doubled in length from last year to 10 pages and includes a description of the island’s attempts to strengthen its defenses against any attack from China, despite falling further behind the mainland in terms of military prowess.

“Changes to the status quo by force are a problem for the whole world, so we will monitor related developments with heightened vigilance, while cooperating with our ally the United States, friendly countries and the international community,” he said. the Ministry.

The Defense Ministry detailed joint exercises conducted by Russia and China in the waters and airspace surrounding Japan in an expanded two-page section on military cooperation between two of its closest neighbors.

China and Russia undertook joint aerial exercises near Japan and South Korea as US President Joe Biden wrapped up a visit to US allies in May.

“We can see a deepening of military cooperation and this will have a direct effect on the security situation around our country,” the ministry said in a summary of the report. “We must continue to pay close attention to these developments with concern.”

In a foreword to the 500-page report, Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said he was full of anger and grief over the war in Ukraine, and reiterated a warning that it was not the affair of Europe alone, but a sign of strategic competition between nations. this had particular implications for the existing order in the Indo-Pacific region.

Japan has lent its support to Ukraine, imposing a series of sanctions on Russia, while providing non-lethal military equipment to the government of President Zelenskiy.

Kishida has also sought to boost his country’s security by strengthening ties with a range of countries, including becoming the first Japanese prime minister to attend a NATO summit this year.

Following Kishida’s vow to significantly improve Japan’s defenses, including a substantial increase in spending, the ministry did not set any spending targets, but offered an international context. Its military budget is a lower percentage of GDP than any other G7 country, at 0.95% for the year ending March, compared to almost 2% for the UK and more than 3% for the states. -United.

While the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has called on Japan to meet the 2% budget target set by NATO, the government has yet to endorse the target. Japan’s defense spending has been rising steadily for a decade, but the yen’s recent fall means its money isn’t going that far.

Japan’s defense paper also warned of vulnerable technology supply chains, in its annual defense white paper.

The report outlines the government’s security concerns as it prepares the Defense Ministry’s budget request due next month, aimed at bolstering public support for an unprecedented increase in military funding that the ruling party aims to double over the next decade.

It also sets the stage for a year-end national security review that is expected to call for the acquisition of longer-range strike missiles, enhanced space and cyber capabilities, and tighter access controls. to technology.

Last month, Defense Minister Kishi described Japan as being on a frontline surrounded by nuclear-armed actors.

Most Japanese seem to share the government’s concerns about the deteriorating security environment in Japan, with recent opinion polls backing the increase in defense spending to more than 50%.

Kishida’s ruling LDP, which has pledged to double military spending to 2% of GDP, won seats in national elections for upper house lawmakers this month.

A 2% target would align Tokyo with a minimum commitment set by NATO members and, given the size of its economy, make the pacifist nation the world’s No. 3 in total defense spending after the United States. and China.

The white paper cites comparative OECD estimates of defense spending by Japan and eight other countries, showing Japan at 0.95% of GDP, the United States at 3.12%, South Korea at 2.57%, China neighbors at 1.2% and Russia neighbors at 2.73%.

Japan’s spending as a percentage of GDP is lower than all other G7 countries, as well as Australia and South Korea, he said.

“Per capita spending in South Korea, Britain, France and Germany is two to three times higher,” the document said.

Japan, South Korea agree to improve relations

The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan on Monday reaffirmed the importance of bilateral relations and the tripartite relationship with the United States as they renewed efforts to mend relations amid war in Ukraine. and other global tensions.

Park Jin, South Korea’s top diplomat, and his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi agreed to work together on the nuclear threat from North Korea and the need to resolve a dispute over the forced mobilization of Korean workers at the time. colonial rule of Japan, according to the two foreign ministries. .

Ties between the countries have been strained mainly over historical issues, including forced labor before and during World War II.

At the heart of the dispute are South Korean court rulings in 2018, which ordered two Japanese companies, Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, to compensate Korean forced laborers. Japanese companies refused to comply with the rulings, and former workers and their supporters responded by pushing for the forced sale of Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi assets.

The ministers shared the view that disputes over forced laborers should be resolved at the earliest, the South Korean Foreign Ministry statement said. He quoted Park as saying South Korea would seek to resolve the dispute before sales from the two Japanese companies are made in South Korea.

According to the Japanese statement, Hayashi told Park that the two sides should build a constructive relationship based on normalizing relations in 1965. Tokyo has long maintained that all compensation issues were settled by then.

Since taking office in March, South Korea’s new conservative government under President Yoon Suk Yeol has worked to improve relations with Japan and strengthen trilateral security cooperation with Washington and Tokyo to better deal with North Korean nuclear threats.

As talks began in Tokyo, Park and Hayashi bumped elbows and posed for the cameras at the official guest house as they conversed softly in English. Both attended schools in the United States, and Park also studied in Japan.

The visit, the first by a South Korean foreign minister since November 2019, comes after the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, considered an influential figure in shaping Japan’s foreign policy.

Park expressed his condolences for Abe’s death. Park is due to stay in Japan until Wednesday and may meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Park and Hayashi had also met ahead of South Korea’s presidential inauguration in Seoul in May, as well as in Bali, Indonesia, for the Group of 20 meeting earlier this month.

South Korea’s foreign ministry launched consultations in July with lawyers and activists representing Korean forced laborers and other experts to seek opinions on how to resolve the dispute.

Besides a painful history, the two nations also share a long-standing territorial dispute over islands controlled by Seoul but also claimed by Japan. Tokyo calls them Takeshima and South Korea calls them Dokdo.

US President Biden’s administration has tried to bring the two Asian democracies closer together on security and regional issues amid the war in Ukraine and tensions including threats from North Korea and slashing from China.

North Korea has stepped up missile and artillery tests this year in what is seen as a bid to pressure Washington and Seoul to ease international sanctions on Pyongyang.

Park also expressed support for Tokyo’s efforts to bring back Japanese people abducted by North Korea decades ago, Japan’s foreign ministry said.

About 20 years ago, North Korea reversed years of denial and admitted to kidnapping Japanese citizens and returning some to Japan. But Japan thinks there are even more in North Korea.

China to extend anti-dumping duties on steel products from Japan, South Korea and EU

China will extend anti-dumping duties on grain-oriented flat-rolled electrical steel imported from Japan, South Korea and the EU, the country’s Commerce Ministry said on Friday.

The rights will be extended for five years from July 23, it said in a statement.

Anti-dumping duty rates are set between 39% and 45.7% for Japanese companies, including JFE Steel Corp and Nippon Steel Corp, 37.3% for Korean companies and 46.3% for EU companies.

China, the world’s largest steel producer, initiated an anti-dumping investigation last June on grain-oriented flat-rolled electrical steel from Japan, South Korea and the EU following the expiration customs duties in force for five years.

The rates were reinstated during the one-year investigation.

The move follows a petition from steelmakers China Baoshan Iron and Steel and a Beijing Shougang unit who argued that removing tariffs could lead to further dumping, harming the domestic steel sector.

Oriented electrical steel or oriented silicon steel is used in transformers and is more expensive than carbon steel.