Defense White Paper: China military buildup must be transparent

The government has just published the 2008 version of its annual Defense White Paper in which domestic and international “defense” situation is pondered and analyzed. The highlight of this year’s paper is Japan’s continuing suspicions on China’s ballooning military spending in which Japan wants more transparency and the reason (intention) behind the buildup itself. Other new highlights of the paper mentions China’s intention to create a unit capable in waging cyber warfare, and a series of important domestic scandals involving Defense Minister Moriya who is accused of corruption, and the Aegis Destroyer’s collision with a fishing vessel implying that domestic “defense” situation is not so good either.  

The Japan Defense White Papers are seriously considered in both academe and political literatures in Japan, since they reflect the governments overall standpoint about Japan’s international military relations.