The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that Japan had last year already added to the military officers sent to embassies in the Philippines and Vietnam.
The SCMP report said a Japanese government spokesman confirmed the Malaysian appointment and that funding had been allocated in its 2018 budget. However, the report said, he declined to explain why Japan was stepping up military advisory and intelligence-gathering capabilities in Southeast Asia.
The official did say, though, that these new permanent attaches would not have any responsibility for the security of Japanese embassies in those countries.
Observers see the appointments as another move by Japan to counter China’s military assertiveness, a concern that is shared by some governments in Southeast Asia.
Beijing claims most of the South China Sea – through which US$5 trillion in trade passes annually – and has rapidly built reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes. It is believed that the waters here hold vast oil and gas deposits.
The Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei also have competing claims on some of the islets and reefs in the sea.
Last week, in a budget report presented before the opening session of the annual National People’s Congress, Beijing announced an 8.1% defence budget increase for 2018, saying it will spend 1.11 trillion yuan (RM681 billion) on its military.
A concerned Japan is also supporting regional allies with hardware, including patrol boats and aircraft. It had been reported last year that Japan was considering donating a maritime patrol aircraft to Malaysia.
The SCMP report said Japanese media had reported that the military advisers had been tasked with deepening relationships across the region, collecting and analysing intelligence and promoting defence cooperation.
The report said the ministry of defence (MOD) had stated its commitment to strengthening intelligence capabilities “in order that the MOD can promptly detect and swiftly respond to warnings of various situations in areas surrounding Japan and take measures based on medium-to-long-term military trends”, in its most recent white paper on security and defence spending.
The paper also spoke about boosting the Japanese Defence Intelligence Headquarter’s data gathering and analysis, and supporting partner nations via defence arrangements such as joint military exercises.