Japan's new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba warned in his first policy speech that "today's Ukraine could be tomorrow's East Asia," while calling the country's low birth rate a "quiet emergency."
"Many fear that today's Ukraine could be tomorrow's East Asia. Why has deterrence not worked in Ukraine?" Ishiba told parliament.
"Combined with the situation in the Middle East, the international community is becoming increasingly divided and confrontational," the 67-year-old former defense minister said.
Japan's relations with China have deteriorated in recent years as Beijing asserts its military presence around disputed territories in the region and Tokyo strengthens security ties with the United States and its allies.
In August, a Chinese warplane made China's first confirmed incursion into Japanese airspace, followed weeks later by a Japanese warship passing through the Taiwan Strait for the first time.
Ishiba supports the creation of a NATO-style regional military alliance, saying the security environment in Asia is "the worst since the end of World War II."
Low divisibility
Japan, like many developed countries, faces a looming demographic crisis as its population ages and birth rates remain stubbornly low.
According to the World Bank, the country has the oldest population in the world after tiny Monaco.
Last year the fertility rate - the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime - was 1.2, well below the 2.1 children needed to sustain the population.
Ishiba called the fertility situation a "quiet emergency" and added that the government would promote measures to support families, such as flexible working hours.
Kishida was unpopular with voters because of a series of scandals and inflation that is squeezing incomes in the world's fourth-largest economy.
Ishiba wants to boost incomes through a new monetary stimulus package, as well as support for regional governments and low-income households.
Within this decade, he has said he wants to raise the country's average minimum wage to 1,500 yen ($10.20) an hour, up nearly 43 percent from the current 1,050 yen.
Last Friday, the yen rose sharply after the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) elected Ishiba as its leader, as he generally supported the Bank of Japan's exit from the policy of ultra-loose regulation.
But Ishiba later told reporters that he did not think the environment was right for further interest rate hikes, which sent the Japanese currency south again.
One dollar was buying for 146.42 yen, having recovered slightly from levels above 147 at the start of the week. | BGNES
