Page 14 - 2018 Defense White Paper

Section 2 Security Environment of

Northeast Asia

In Northeast Asia, the strategic competition between the United States and China is intensifying, while Japan
and Russia are competitively building their military strength, mainly their naval and air forces, to expand their
influence. Such security situation, combined with the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, is creating
further uncertainties and volatility in the regional security of Northeast Asia.

1. Growing Volatility in the Regional Security Landscape

Under the philosophy of “peace through strength,” the United States classif ied China and

Russia as revisionist powers in its National Security Strategy (NSS) 5) and National Defense
Strategy (NDS) 6) , and of f icially declared the intent to commit to a long-term, strategic
competition with them. Meanwhile, through the pursuit of the Indo-Pacif ic Strategy, the United
States is strengthening bilateral and multilateral cooperation with countries in the region, mainly

the four-way cooperation with Japan, Australia, and India. With the increased defense budget,
the United States continues to boost its investment to modernize the military forces and enhance
its readiness posture by reinforcing its forces deployed to the Asia-Pacif ic region, strengthening

conventional forces, modernizing nuclear deterrence capabilities, and bolstering missile defense
capabilities on the U.S. mainland.
China set the goal to build a world-class military by 2050 in a blueprint for President Xi
th
Jinping’s second term unveiled at the 19 National Congress of the Communist Party of China in
October 2017. It sets out China’s plan to modernize socialism based on a moderately prosperous

5) Top-level document prepared by the executive branch of the US government for Congress
6) The NDS is a report issued by the US Department of Defense based on the NSS. It provides guidance for
developing the National Military Strategy (NMS) of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and other related documents.

12 Chapter 1 Changes and Challenges in the Security Environment