It is also natural for other countries to react to China's rising power and ambitions with their own rise:
After a review of its military policies, Japan has decided to redeploy its armed forces, to better deal with the growing threat from China and North Korea. Russia, despite the continuing dispute over the Kurile islands, is seen as much less of a problem. Throughout the Cold War, Japanese military power was focused on a possible attack from Russia. But with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and two decades of decline in the Russian armed forces, Japan now feels able to turn and confront the growing might of China, and hostility from North Korea. Japan is also upgrading its armed forces, especially its navy, in response to the growth of Chinese naval power.
Until China's natural rise in military power, Japan had less incentive to really gear up their military for potential conflict.
