When Japan unveiled its new National Security Strategy (NSS) and two other strategy documents last week, it signaled a significant turning point in Japan’s defense policy as Tokyo enshrined its most significant military buildup since World War II. Amid growing threats from regional rivals and criticisms from certain segments of the U.S. of free riding, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed his defense and finance ministers to secure the necessary funds to boost yearly defense spending to around 2% of GDP in fiscal 2027.

With its defense overhaul, Japan describes one of those regional rivals — China — as its “greatest strategic challenge.” China’s growing naval and air forces have been testing Japan’s defense of the Senkaku Islands, which Beijing calls the Diaoyus — an uninhabited chain of islands in the East China Sea that Japan controls.