May 31, 2026 – 4.13pmTokyo | Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has charged headlong at China’s ‘new militarism’ accusation, bringing veiled criticism of Tokyo’s historical foe out into the open.Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Sunday, Koizumi pushed back against the phrase increasingly used by Chinese officials and state media to describe Japan’s biggest military build-up since World War Two, which includes revised security strategies and a historic increase in defence spending.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles
Japan rejects China’s ‘new militarism’ label as hypocritical
The remarks illustrate the heightened tensions between Asia’s two largest economies after the papering over of historic differences came unstuck last year.
TL;DRAI
Japan's Defence Minister Koizumi publicly rejected China's "new militarism" label at the Shangri-La Dialogue, defending Tokyo's largest military build-up since WWII — including revised security strategies and a historic defence spending increase. For tech and defence-adjacent executives, the Japan-China strategic rift signals accelerating demand for sovereign defence tech, cybersecurity investment, and supply chain decoupling across the Indo-Pacific.
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