"Ukraine could be the East Asia of tomorrow," Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday at a summit in Singapore, referring to the situation in Taiwan.

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On Friday, a Chinese defense ministry spokesman said China "will not hesitate to start a war" if Taiwan declares independence. "If anyone dares to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese military will not hesitate for a moment to start a war, no matter what the cost," Wu Qian said.

China considers the island of 24 million people to be one of its historical provinces, even if it does not control it, and has increased pressure against Taipei in recent years, for example leading campaigns of incursions into the Taiwan Air Defense Zone.

"In light of Russian aggression against Ukraine, countries' perception of security has changed drastically," Kishida told a session of the Shangri-La Security Summit in Singapore. . He alluded in particular to the German decision to increase its defense budget and the decisions of Sweden and Finland to join NATO.

Mr. Kishida added that he had a responsibility to "protect the lives and assets of the Japanese people", while contributing to regional peace and security.

In order to ensure its protection, Japan "must improve its deterrent forces and its response capabilities", he continued, adding that his administration would determine a new national security strategy before the end of the year.

Mr. Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party has included in its objectives to increase the country's defense budget to more than 2% of the GDP, in order to align itself with the goal pursued by the members of NATO. This budget was traditionally limited to less than 1% of GDP, which amounts to some 5000 billion dollars.