This year's defense white paper focuses on the greater cooperation between Russia and China, while adding a new chapter addressing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and doubling the pages devoted to Taiwan.
The criticism was directed at Russia, which was said to have shaken the foundation of the overall international order, including in Asia. The White Paper for 2022 pointed out the heavy damage done to the Russian military and noted that there is the possibility that Russia's national power could decline in the medium and long-term, as well as a change in military balance with the surrounding region. The document raised the possibility of Russia and China pursuing greater cooperation to deal with the United States as well as the possibility that Moscow might place greater emphasis on its nuclear arsenal.
Such possibilities led to the white paper raising concerns about the global situation, including how the strategic competition between the United States and China develops as well as the possible effects on Asia. A new analytical piece dealing with the topic was focused on the Russia-China situation.
The joint sailing of Russian and Chinese ships in October 2021 in waters near Japan and the joint flying of Russian and Chinese bombers in May near its airspace after the Russian invasion of Ukraine were among the details included.
The white paper stated that the relationship was one of consenting if the other party invaded another nation, and Beijing has not criticized the invasion of Ukraine. The defense white paper last year introduced a new chapter about the strategic competition between the United States and China. This year's edition doubled the number of pages dedicated to Taiwan in that context.
While last year s edition only pointed out that the stability of Taiwan was important for the stability of the international community, this year s version said that greater attention will be focused on related developments while cooperating with the international community under the assumption that any change in the status quo through the use of force was a common concern of the world. More details were also provided regarding defense spending in an attempt to gain public understanding of the move towards increased defense spending by the government.
The agreement by NATO member nations to raise defense spending to at least 2 percent of gross domestic product was touched on in the white paper.
There was an international comparison of defense spending with Japan at 40,000 yen $290, China at 210,000 yen, Russia at 90,000 yen, South Korea at 120,000 yen and Britain at 100,000 yen.
Defense spending is a major indicator of a nation's will to defend itself, Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said at his July 22 news conference. We included this entry for the first time to gain the understanding of the public about the current situation regarding defense spending. The White Paper also touched on legislation regarding economic security that passed the Diet this year and said that the Defense Ministry would aggressively provide its knowledge related to that area.