Arti BaliSingapore/New Delhi, May 31 -- Japan's Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi took the stage at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Sunday and delivered one of Tokyo's most pointed responses yet to Beijing, rejecting accusations of "new militarism" and turning the lens squarely on China's own military expansion, which he called a matter of "serious concern" for the entire region.
Speaking at the forum's 5th Plenary Session on "Managing Regional Tensions Amid Global Competition," Koizumi framed Japan's defence modernisation not as a deviation from its post-war pacifism but as a responsible, transparent update required by an increasingly dangerous environment- one shaped, in large part, by China's growing arsenal.
"There is a country that has a ...