China replaces North Korea as Japan’s top security threat in annual military assessment

China’s growing military might means it now poses a greater threat to Japan than North Korea, the government in Tokyo has suggested. The Japanese government’s annual defence review, which was published on Thursday, said the People’s Republic is rapidly closing its military capability gap with the United States and projecting its influence into the western Pacific with increasing assertiveness. But a worrying lack of transparency about its intentions and an increase in long-range bomber flights and naval exercises near Japan “represent a serious security concern for the region,” the report said. "The reality is that China is rapidly increasing military spending," Defence Minister Taro Kono said at a media briefing. "China is deploying air and sea assets in the Western Pacific and through the Tsushima Strait into the Sea of Japan with greater frequency."