The defense white paper is a document used to review Japan's annual military policy. In recent years, China has been a focal point of what the document addresses. A former member of parliament from the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, says this is because the Abe government wants to push forward the process of changing its Peace Constitution, by playing up the "China threat theory."

"Abe has been hyping up the theory of the "China Threat" since he became the Prime Minister, constructing China as an imaginary enemy. He has played up that China would attack Japan, so Japan must increase its defense capabilities. This is the general trend and spirit of recent years' defense white papers. This is to transform Japan's Self-Defense Force into a real army by changing the peace constitution. This is the Liberal Democratic Party's real intention, which I am against. It is not right to talk about China and the South China Sea issue, as Japan is not part of it," said former member of Parliament Totsuka Shinya.