China's Defense Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Chen Xi said on July 9 that Japan's upper house recently passed an amendment to the Defense Ministry Establishment Act renaming the Air Self-Defense Force the Air and Space Self-Defense Force and creating a Space Operations Group. Chen said Japan has openly treated space as an operational domain, increasing military investment in related areas tenfold over five years and expanding operational forces by more than 30-fold; he warned these moves acc

China's Defense Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Chen Xi said on July 9 that Japan's upper house recently passed an amendment to the Defense Ministry Establishment Act renaming the Air Self-Defense Force the Air and Space Self-Defense Force and creating a Space Operations Group. Chen said Japan has openly treated space as an operational domain, increasing military investment in related areas tenfold over five years and expanding operational forces by more than 30-fold; he warned these moves accelerate space weaponization and a space arms race and urged vigilance and measures to curb Japanese right-wing remilitarization to protect global security.