Defense Minister Minoru Kihara used a speech Saturday to warn of the growing possibility of simultaneous crises erupting in the Indo-Pacific and beyond ¡ª a threat not entirely unimaginable amid Chinese moves near Taiwan and the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

¡°Unfortunately, it must be said that the risk of multiple, simultaneous crises and accidental clashes across regions has increased significantly in recent years,¡± Kihara said in his debut address at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, calling the destabilization of regional security ¡°remarkable.¡±

¡°We absolutely cannot be optimistic about the security environment in the Indo-Pacific region,¡± he said. ¡°We cannot rule out the possibility that an incident in the region could occur in the future and shake the foundation of the international order.¡±