Part Ⅰ Chapter 2 Security Environment Surrounding Japan China Rapid Military Modernization ● In order to fully transform the people’s armed forces into world-class forces by the mid-21st century, China has sustained high-level growth of its defense budget without transparency, engaging in broad, rapid improvement of its military power in qualitative and quantitative terms with focus on nuclear, missile, naval and air forces. In doing so, it has attached importance to strengthening its operational capabilities in order to steadily acquire information superiority, and also enhanced its capabilities in the domains of space, cyberspace and electromagnetic spectrum. ● Bolstering these capabilities will reinforce China’s “Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2/AD)” capabilities and lead to the establishment of operational capabilities further afield. ● While implementing a policy of civil-military fusion across the board, with the aim of promoting two-way links between military and civilian resources in various fields, China is striving to develop and acquire cutting-edge technologies that can be used for military purposes, and improve its operational capabilities. ● Chinese forces’ efforts to use artificial intelligence (AI) technology under the awareness that "intelligent warfare is on the horizon" Changes in China’s Defense Budget (100 million yuan) 14,000 Approx. 1.2680 trillion yuan (approx. 20.2881 trillion yen) China’s defense budget is increasing at a fast pace: approx. 44 times in 30 years, approx. 11 times in 20 years, and approx. 2.4 times in 10 years. 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 Japan’s defense-related expenditures in FY2020: 5.0688 trillion yen 4,000 2,000 0 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 (Year) Launch of China's first indigenous aircraft carrier “Shandong” (December 2019) [Avalon/ Jiji Press Photo] Activities in the Surrounding Sea Area and Airspace of Japan ● China has relentlessly continued unilateral attempts to change the status quo by coercion in the sea area around the Senkaku Islands, leading to a grave matter of concern. ● The Chinese Navy and Air Force have in recent years expanded and intensified their activities in the surrounding sea areas and airspace of Japan, and there are cases involving the one-sided escalation of activities. ● China is believed to be aiming to build up capabilities for operations in more distant waters and airspace, including those to project armed forces to waters including the so-called second island chain, beyond the first island chain. ● China has been continuing activities viewed as training of maritime and air forces making forays into the Pacific and the Sea of Japan, being suspected of intending to regularize these activities. ● In the South China Sea, China is moving forward with militarization, as well as expanding and intensifying its activities in the maritime and aerial domains, thereby continuing unilateral attempts to change the status quo by coercion to create a fait accompli. Changes in number of days on which Chinese government vessels intruded into the Japanese territorial waters (Number of days) 10 8 6 4 2 0 (Month) 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 5 9 1 (Year) 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Identification in the contiguous zone Year Number of days (days) Total number of identified vessels (vessels) 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 79 232 243 240 211 171 158 282 83 407 819 729 709 752 696 607 1,097 289 *The figure for 2012 is that from September to December, and the figure for 2020 is as of the end of March. 17 DEFENSE OF JAPAN 2020