After skimming Japan’s new defense white paper, one gets the sense that Asia is on fire. The 30-page strategy is screaming with warnings about the rules-based order coming under threat from resurgent authoritarian states (i.e., China and Russia) that are operating on a “might makes right” mentality. “Japan is facing the most severe and complex security environment since the end of World War II,” the Japanese Defense Ministry makes clear in its introduction.