Minister of Defense of Singapore: Japan's biggest task is to improve relations with China. Claim | Propose | China | Singapore | Relations | Huang Yonghong | Military expenses | Japan
BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhua) According to Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao, on June 4 local time, at the last plenary session of the 20th Shangri La Dialogue, Singapore's Defense Minister Huang Yonghong raised concerns about the situation in Northeast Asia, and pointed out that Japan's biggest task for the stability of ASEAN is to improve relations with China.
When asked what more Japan can do for regional security, Huang Yonghong believed that Japan still has some "unresolved hostility" with countries in the region. In order to maintain geopolitical stability, the better the relationship between Japan and China, the more room for turning things around.
"The most important thing Japan can do to stabilize ASEAN in Asia is to improve its relationship with China," said Huang Yonghong.
Huang Yonghong also stated that Japan should do more to reassure other countries about Japan's militarization and development. In addition, Japan should continue to participate in regional affairs in multilateral settings.
In addition, Huang Yonghong mentioned that Japan had never had such a huge expenditure on national defense before.
Previously reported, in the two years since Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took office, Japan's military spending has increased by the largest amount since World War II. Fumio Kishida announced that his defense budget for the next five years will reach 43 trillion yen, which means that the Japanese government's military spending in the next five years will double, accounting for 2% of the gross domestic product. Japan will also become the world's third-largest military spending country.
In his keynote speech at the Shangri La Dialogue in 2022, Fumio Kishida declared that in order to promote a "free and open Indo Pacific", he proposed the "Kishida Peace Vision" consisting of the "Five Pillars" and stated that "military spending will be significantly increased". The speech demonstrated Japan's political ambition to expand its security role.