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Global Impact: Earthquake, plane collision not best start to year for Japan as it faces pressure at home and abroad
- Global Impact is a weekly curated newsletter featuring a news topic originating in China with a significant macro impact for our newsreaders around the world
- In this issue, we look back at Japan’s challenging start to 2024, and ahead to what might come next
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Japan faced a stable of diplomatic, security and domestic challenges, even local domestic mishaps, as it wrapped up 2023 and headed towards 2024.
Amid growing tensions in the South China Sea, Japan strengthened maritime security cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) during the commemorative summit marking its 50th year of relations with the 10-member bloc.
Apart from separately boosting defence cooperation with the Philippines and Vietnam earlier, Japan also took part in an 11-day joint military exercise
with forces from the Philippines, United States and Britain to ensure “interoperability” in the event of a regional crisis.
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Japan Airlines flight catches fire after apparent collision with another plane at Haneda airport
Japan Airlines flight catches fire after apparent collision with another plane at Haneda airport
Last month, Tokyo approved a 16.5 per cent increase in its 2024 defence spending to a record US$55 billion, focusing on missile-strike capabilities, while lifting restrictions on the export of lethal weapons.
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