Japan’s new National Security Strategy (NSS), released on Dec. 16 but not available in English translation until near the end of that month, takes aim at both Russia and China, and secondarily at North Korea, as threats to “the free, open and stable international order” which Japan must join with the U.S. and other “advanced democracies” to defend. While those “advanced democracies” have “devoted themselves to upholding universal values such as freedom, democracy, respect for fundamental human rights, and the rule of law,” certain other countries “not sharing universal values, are making attempts to revise the existing international order.” Making things worse, “we are even observing that some states are now following the lead of those not sharing universal values.”
In response to this, “Japan needs a strategy that integrates its national responses at a higher level by taking a panoramic view of the diverse dimensions of international relations as a whole...” The NSS therefore “provides strategic guidance for Japan’s national security areas, including diplomacy, defense, economic security, technology, cyber, maritime, space, intelligence, official development assistance (ODA), and energy.” The NSS, “While maintaining the fundamental principles of the Japanese national security, grounded in these arrangements,” its “strategic guidance and policies ... will dramatically transform Japan’s national security policy after the end of WWII from the aspect of its execution.”
