The defence minister, Itsunori Onodera, said this month:“At a time when North
Korea is beefing up its ballistic missile capability, we need to strengthen our capability fundamentally.”.
Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said China had been"unilaterally escalating"
its military activities in the past year, including carrying out new airborne operations around Japan and running a nuclear submarine near disputed East Coast isles.