As climate change threatens world peace, Japan must face up to risk

Suga needs to work with Biden on security strategies that include global warming

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Japan Self-Defense Forces members trudge through a flooded road in Kawagoe, near Tokyo, in 2019. (Photo by Kei Higuchi) 

HIROYUKI AKITA, Nikkei commentator

TOKYO -- Almost a decade ago, then-President Barack Obama's White House cited climate change as a "threat multiplier" to both American and international security.

This assertion in the administration's Quadrennial Defense Review was met with skepticism by some in the Japanese government and Self-Defense Forces. Given Japan's exposure to threats from the military buildups by China and Russia, as well as North Korea's nuclear development, that reaction was understandable.

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