SINGAPORE: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced plans on Friday to boost his country's diplomatic and security role in the Asia Pacific (APAC) to tackle what he described as growing threats in the region amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Kishida said Japan would consider acquiring a preemptive strike capability in response to an increasingly assertive China, North Korea and now Russia — a controversial plan that critics say would violate Japan's war-renouncing Constitution.

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