The possibility of a “serious situation” akin to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in East Asia “cannot be ruled out,” the administration’s new defense white paper published Friday said, in a view widely seen as underscoring fears of conflict over democratic Taiwan.
The annual report, which was approved by the cabinet that same day, is full of harsh assessments of the increasingly tense regional security situation, including an aggressive China, nuclear weapons from North Korea and a revanchist Russia.
“The international community has entered the most difficult period of the post-war era,” Defense Minister Minoru Kihara wrote in a foreword to the report. “The existing order has been severely challenged and we recognize that we are entering a new era of crisis.”
