Japan’s armed forces are getting stronger, faster
America seems delighted
Spend enough time on Japanese military bases and in policymakers’ offices, and you will eventually encounter the same unusual map. It depicts East Asia rotated 90 degrees anti-clockwise, as if to show the region from Beijing’s perspective, looking out across the East China Sea. The Japanese archipelago, and in particular the Nansei island chain stretching from Kyushu to Taiwan, seems to form a wall. China’s ambitions for a greater global role, the map suggests, run right through Japan.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Stronger, faster”
Asia January 21st 2023
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