Japan needs to boost its military with a "sense of urgency and crisis", its defence minister said Tuesday, as a new government assessment again highlighted growing risks from China, North Korea and Russia. Japan is already beefing up military spending and security cooperation in Asia, deploying missile launchers to outer islands, moving to acquire "counter-strike" capabilities, and easing rules on weapons exports. Advertisement AdvertisementAdvertisement AdvertisementIn the Asia-Pacific "not only are China and North Korea further strengthening their military capabilities, China-Russia and Russia-North Korea are also reinforcing their cooperation", he added. The new white paper said China was "intensifying its activities" in the region around Japan, "extending beyond the so-called first island chain to the second island chain". Japan decided in April to lift its self-imposed ban on weapons exports, but the white paper highlighted problems in the country's production base that could jeopardise procurement and innovation.