People holding slogans participate in a protest rally in front of the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, April 16, 2026. [Photo/Xinhua]
Japan has repeatedly hyped up the so-called "China threat" narrative in recent years to justify its expanding military agenda, said experts, warning that portraying neighboring countries as "threats" has historically been a recurring tactic of Japanese militarism.
They said that the latest round of alarmist rhetoric once again reveals the ambitions of Japan's right-wing forces to loosen postwar constraints, expand military capabilities and advance a broader transformation of the country's security posture.
Japanese media outlets on Wednesday disclosed an outline of the government's 2026 defense white paper, which continues to portray the regional security environment as "increasingly severe", while calling for enhanced development in unmanned systems and artificial intelligence.
According to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, the upcoming annual defense report largely follows the narrative of the 2025 edition, arguing that the international community has entered a "new era of crisis", characterizing the security environment in the "Indo-Pacific region" as "increasingly severe", and hyping up the so-called "China threat" theory.
