Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has said the country has an absolute need for counterstrike capabilities, citing rapid buildup of missile technologies in neighboring nations.

Kishida was answering questions at a Lower House plenary session on Tuesday after explaining three documents his Cabinet approved last December. The documents concern Japan's security strategy, defense strategy and plans to upgrade defense capabilities.

Former Environment Minister Koizumi Shinjiro of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party asked how Kishida will step up both defense capabilities and dialogue with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Kishida said he wants to maintain the positive momentum created in his summit with Xi last November, but that he will say what Japan should, and call on China to behave responsibly.

He added that the two countries will keep talking to build constructive and stable relations so that they can cooperate in areas of shared interest.

Shinohara Go of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party asked why counterstrike capabilities are needed when Japan maintains an exclusively defense-oriented policy. He said attack and defense role-sharing between the United States and Japan has not changed.

Kishida said perfect defense using existing missile systems is getting increasingly difficult because missile forces around Japan are rapidly increasing in quality and size.
He stressed the need to enhance the Japan-US alliance's deterrence and response ability, adding that counterstrike capabilities will be implemented as a bare-minimum measure used only for self-defense.

Kishida also took a question on whether Japan would exercise counterstrike capabilities if its survival were threatened but without a direct attack on the country.

The prime minister affirmed the possible use of such capabilities in cases such as military attacks on a country with close ties to Japan. But he added that this would happen only if the situation met the three conditions for Japan to exercise its right to collective self-defense.