Japan: PM calls for focus on 'unconventional' areas in the defense to fight new challenges

Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Saturday said that Japan's Self-Defence Forces (SDF) must focus on strengthening multifunctionality and look beyond the conventional areas such as land, air, and sea. Suga, who was speaking at the Air Self-Defense Force review, said it is important for Japan's SDFs to increase cooperation in areas such as space and cyberspace due to the security situation around the country. Suga said it is necessary to take countermeasures in new domains, including space, cyberspace, and electromagnetic radiation. 

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Suga also praised the country's self-defence forces for their work amid the COVID-19 pandemic, including their swift response in handling the outbreak on the Diamond Princess cruise ship. The cruise ship was one of the first places outside China to report a COVID-19 cluster after reaching the Japanese port on Okinawa in February. Japanese self-defence forces were involved in the operations that oversaw the handling of COVID-19 on the ship. 

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Japan's security threats

Japan limits its military by calling them self-defence forces because of the no-first strike declaration it signed post-World War II. However, over the past several years, due to the increase in security threats triggered by North Korea's missile development programme, the Japanese political and civilian class have been calling for a revamp of its security forces. Japan also faces threats from China and Russia over the disputed Senkaku and Kuril Islands. 

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Suga, who took over from Shinzo Abe earlier this year, has called for the strengthening of Japan's self-defence forces. Suga wants JSDF to focus on areas, which traditionally fall outside its standard land, air, and sea domains, such as space and cyberspace. Cybersecurity has become one of the major concerns for governments across the world due to increase in cyberattacks, mainly originating from Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran. 

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(Inputs: ANI, Image Credit: AP)

Japan's Suga calls for boosting defence forces' multifunctionality to fight new challenges