military-civilian fusion

The integration of the military and civilian sectors is an initiative that China has been promoting as a national strategy in recent years. In addition to the conventional defense mobilization system designed for emergency situations, it is said to promote the military use of civilian resources and the conversion of military technology to civilian use on a regular basis, not limited to emergency situations.

In particular, efforts in what are considered "emerging areas" for China, such as maritime, space, cyber, and artificial intelligence (AI), have been identified as priority areas for military-private sector integration.

In 2015, the Ministry of Defense launched the "National Security Technology Research Program" to fund basic research on military technology, and in 2005, the Science Council of Japan issued a statement opposing the program, expressing concern that "academia and the military are becoming closer. The reason is that the National Security Technology Research Program is "bringing academia and the military closer together.

The debate over the system at the time was based on the premise that it is unreasonable to divide advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and information and communications into military and civilian applications, and that the latest scientific technologies should be dual-use (military and civilian). The starting point was the fear that the continued opposition of the council to military research would restrict the free thinking of researchers and bring Japanese science to a standstill.

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