Defense Minister Minoru Kihara used a speech on Saturday to warn of the growing possibility of simultaneous crises erupting in the Indo-Pacific and beyond – a threat that is not entirely unthinkable amid Chinese moves near Taiwan and ongoing conflict in Ukraine and Gaza.
“Unfortunately, it must be said that the risk of multiple, simultaneous crises and accidental clashes between regions has increased significantly in recent years,” Kihara said in his debut speech at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, citing the destabilization of regional security . “remarkable.”
“We absolutely cannot be optimistic about the security environment in the Indo-Pacific region,” he said. “We cannot rule out the possibility that an incident could occur in the region in the future that could shake the foundations of the international order.”
