Singapore: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced plans on Friday to boost his country's diplomatic and security role in the Asia Pacific to tackle what he described as growing threats in the region amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Kishida said Japan will consider acquiring a preemptive strike capability in response to an increasingly assertive China, North Korea and now Russia a controversial plan that critics say would violate Japan's war-renouncing Constitution.
Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow, Kishida said in a keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, an Asian security forum.
Kishida stressed the importance of cooperation among regional partners, and said he will lay out a free and open Indo-Pacific plan for peace by next spring in which Japan will provide development aid, patrol boats, maritime law enforcement capabilities and other assistance to countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific where China is attempting to increase its influence to help them better guard themselves.
Japan has been promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific security and economic framework among like-minded democracies as a counter to China's rise.
Japan will provide such support to at least 20 countries, train at least 800 maritime security personnel and provide about USD 2 billion in assistance over the next three years, he said. Kishida has already pledged to bolster Japan's military capabilities and spending.
Japan's attempt to expand its security role in Asia, where many countries suffered from its World War II aggression, is a sensitive issue.
Kishida assured the audience that Japan's defense enhancement will be transparent and remain within the scope of its Constitution.