A report in the KYODO NEWS reveals that Japan, on Tuesday, adopted the nation’s first, space security blueprint, with the aim of better using the frontier for defense purposes over the next 10 years, this in response to the rising military use of outer space by China and Russia.
In the roadmap drawn up, based on the National Security Strategy updated in December of 2022, the government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has also committed to advancing Japanese defense projects by making use of private-sector space technologies.
The main pillar of the blueprint is a plan for strengthening information gathering systems to enhance the effectiveness of counterstrike, or enemy base strike, capabilities, which Japan pledged late last year to acquire while maintaining its war-renouncing Constitution.
The roadmap was endorsed as Beijing continues to push ahead with its own space development projects, fanning speculations that competition between China and the United States in the domain will intensify. Russia has also been expanding its military-related space capabilities.
However, the Japanese government’s apparent attempt to accelerate the integration of the country’s defense and civilian sectors may provoke a backlash from opposition parties, which have sought to criticize a series of relatively hawkish security policies hammered out by Kishida’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
During a government meeting on Tuesday, Kishida said, “For the sake of national security, we will dramatically scale up the use of space systems and ensure the safe and stable utilization of the domain.”
