Narrating the China threat in Defense of Japan : Narrative analysis of Defense of Japan annual white papers from 2020 to 2023

Abstract

This research examines the major themes that form the China threat narrative in Defense of Japan annual white papers from 2020 to 2023. These are policy documents published by Japanese Ministry of Defense (MOD). The research utilized a text-driven content analysis to go through the material and then the Narrative Policy Framework was implemented to specify themes from the policy narrative. The findings of this paper are that the China threat narrative in these documents can be analyzed and deconstructed into three major strands of threat narrative. Those are the threat to values-based international order, threat of Sino-Russian cooperation and threat related to technological development and new domains of security. The most common policy solution that the MOD advocates for in the narrative is to increase deterrence via military means, such as new counter-strike capabilities. The research also concludes that MOD utilizes China threat narrative as a policy tool to influence the image of China and Japan.