Elbridge Colby Quoted in Nikkei Asia

Elbridge Colby, former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development and the principal author of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, said such an incremental increase will not be enough to deter China’s actions. “How open is the public to a Japan dominated by China?” he asked. “This is the very real risk of a too-slow defense increase from Japan.”

“We are all behind the curve on this. The LDP has put 2% in the party plank but when is that going to happen, like 30 years from now? We don’t have that much time,” Colby said.

The Biden administration is “slapping backs on the Japan relationship, but the U.S.-Japan relationship is in crisis,” he warned. “The People’s Liberation Army is a this-decade problem.”

Nikkei Asia