Commentary: China is pushing a pacifist Japan into building up its military capabilities
by Daniel DePetris, Chicago Tribune
Dec 16, 2022
3 minutes
Japan isn’t known for being an aggressive country in the world of foreign affairs. Successive Japanese governments have taken pains to emphasize their peacelike nature, a direct consequence of Tokyo finding itself on the losing side of the most horrific war of the 20th century. Japan’s constitution renounces the use of force as a “means of settling international disputes,” and at $54 billion as of last year, its defense budget is extremely modest compared with its $4.9 trillion economy.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, however, no longer believes Tokyo’s traditional defense policy and military outlays
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