Japan Defense Report Cites China, Russia, NK Military Ties

Growing military coordination between China, Russia and North Korea is heightening security risks for Japan, Tokyo said in its latest defense white paper, citing increasingly provocative Chinese-Russian bomber patrols and Moscow’s support for North Korea’s military modernization.

The report, an annual review of Japan’s security environment, noted a patrol by Chinese and Russian bombers in December last year that for the first time traveled in the direction of Tokyo after passing over Japan’s southern islands. The aircraft turned around before reaching Japanese airspace.

China and Russia sent bombers on a similar flight path in June this year.

“Joint Chinese and Russian bomber flights and naval exercises are clearly intended as a show of force against our country and represent a serious concern for national security,” the white paper released Tuesday said.

Beijing criticized the white paper for exaggerating regional security risks and hyping a “China threat” to justify expanding its military capabilities, according to a statement from the Ministry of National Defense. The ministry expressed “strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition.”

Joint Chinese-Russian strategic bomber flights near Japan have been held at least once every year since 2019, but the increasingly assertive exercises come as Beijing tries to force Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to retract remarks she made in parliament last November about Taiwan. 

That suggests China and Russia are coordinating more closely on sending a political signal through military exercises, according to Riho Aizawa, a research fellow at the National Institute for Defense Studies in Tokyo.

“China and Russia now have a relationship in which China can apply pressure on Japan with the support of Russian military power at a time that serves China’s political interests,” Aizawa wrote in a recent report.

More Scrambles

The Chinese Defense Ministry statement said that Taiwan concerns China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and is a “red line” in China-Japan relations. It urged Tokyo to stop interfering in China’s internal affairs and avoid what it called the “wrong path” of remilitarization.

This year, Japan’s military has responded more frequently to combined Chinese and Russian air threats. Data released by Japan’s Defense Ministry in July showed that the number of scrambles by Japanese fighter jets to monitor either Chinese or Russian aircraft flying near Japan in the first quarter of the year reached a three-year high.

Besides air threats, Japan is wary of Chinese and Russian naval activity around its archipelago. In July, Tokyo said it observed a Chinese destroyer firing its machine gun inside the exclusive economic zone of a Japanese island in the Pacific Ocean. The destroyer was earlier seen sailing with a Russian frigate and another Chinese warship in the area.

Russia’s military alliance with North Korea, signed in 2024, is also providing support for Pyongyang’s weapons development, Japan’s report said. It cited North Korea’s “extremely rapid” progress in missile development, including advanced hypersonic missiles. 

“Through military cooperation with Russia, there is a concern that North Korea’s military power will increase in the mid- to long-term,” it said.

While there are no clear indications of three-way military coordination between China, Russia and North Korea, the Japanese white paper noted a joint appearance by the countries’ leaders at a military parade in Beijing in September last year.

For the first time, the white paper included a section on Japan’s efforts to build up its defense industry in order to respond to rising regional threats. It also highlighted the growing importance of drones and technology such as AI for modern warfare.

With assistance from Foster Wong.

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