Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi’s admission of a Pacific “defence vacuum” reinforces to Beijing that Tokyo is filling a gap Washington appears to have left. Japan alleges that Beijing’s drills around Taiwan aim to normalise its military presence as “a fait accompli”. In addition, Japan recorded over 1,400 aircraft launches and recoveries during Chinese carrier operations in the Pacific last year. Tokyo now frames the East and South China seas and the Taiwan Strait challenges as a single threat, branding China-Russia patrols “demonstration activities”. The defence production section calls the industry “defence capability itself” – a move Beijing would see as embedding militarisation into Japan’s economy.