Japan's white paper on defence

 

   We took note of the assessment of Russia’s defence policy in the 2020 Defence of Japan (Annual White Paper). Surprisingly, not only the sections on Russia are completely detached from reality, but also imbued with distrust and suspicion regarding our country’s policy and actions, aimed exclusively at ensuring effective national security in Asia-Pacific’s tense military and political environment.

   We firmly reject Tokyo’s claims regarding defence actions in the Southern Kuril Islands, labelled in the White Paper as “inherent territories of Japan” under illegal occupation.

   Once again, we have to recall that Russia assumed sovereignty over these islands in view of the outcomes of WWII, enshrined in the UN Charter, among other instruments, which entitles us to carry out any kind of activity there.

   We regret to note that in its White Paper, Tokyo failed to make its defence policy transparent, refraining from explaining to the regional community its plans to revise the post-war “peaceful” constitution. It also reaffirmed its narrow bloc-based approaches to security, while ignoring the need to build an inclusive and transparent architecture of relations in Asia-Pacific taking into consideration the interests and concerns of all the regional powers, which is long overdue.