Is Japan eyeing Ukraine-style asymmetric warfare against China in defence shift?

Japan’s latest defence white paper’s emphasis on adaptivity and scale of drones signals its intention to seek asymmetric capabilities against China in the event of a conflict, while drawing lessons from Ukraine, according to experts.The 610-page document released on Tuesday highlights the need to integrate unmanned systems, artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced technologies across the Japan-self-defence-forces" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="180432" data-entity-type="organization">Japan Self-Defence Forces as Tokyo confronts an increasingly complex security environment.While Japan has invested in drones and AI for years, the white paper marks a notable shift in emphasis, framing autonomous systems not simply as capabilities under development but as an integral part of how Japan expects future conflicts to be fought.