People's Daily Bell: The Japanese side's portrayal of the so-called "China threat" cannot deceive the world. The so-called "Taiwan" military "threat | Japan | Japan | China

Any Japanese tactic of exaggerating the so-called "China threat" and seeking excuses for military expansion cannot deceive the world. To become a normal country, Japan should truly face up to and reflect on its history of aggression, and truly gain trust from its Asian neighbors and the international community with a responsible attitude and practical actions

The Japanese government recently released the 2023 version of the Defense White Paper, claiming to seek "fundamental enhancement of defense capabilities" and plans to increase defense spending to 43.5 trillion yen over the next five years. The Japanese side still disregards basic facts and positions China as the "greatest strategic challenge ever", exaggerating the so-called "China threat", rudely interfering in China's internal affairs, smearing China's defense policy, normal military development, and legitimate military activities. This approach clearly indicates that Japan is attempting to find excuses for its own military expansion by exaggerating the so-called "China threat".

China adheres to the path of peaceful development, adheres to a defensive national defense policy, and has never challenged or threatened anyone. China's strengthening of national defense and military construction is to defend national sovereignty, security, and development interests, which is legitimate, reasonable, and indisputable. Currently, the overall situation in the East China Sea and South China Sea remains stable. The Diaoyu Islands and their affiliated islands have been China's inherent territory since ancient times, and Chinese official ships cruising in the waters around the Diaoyu Islands is a legitimate measure to exercise sovereignty in accordance with the law. Japan is not a country involved in the South China Sea and should stop stirring up trouble and creating confrontation. China's military cooperation with relevant countries, such as joint patrols, is in line with international law and practice. The Japanese side's use of China's normal military construction as a pretext and exaggeration of China's "increasingly active attempts and activities to unilaterally change the status quo through power" is another poor performance of fabricating the lie of "China's military threat" and deliberately provoking regional tensions. In the East China Sea, it is not anyone else who has attempted to change the status quo of the Diaoyu Islands multiple times over the past 100 years, but Japan itself. In the Asia Pacific region, the countries that truly threaten regional peace and stability and attempt to unilaterally change the status quo are individual extraterritorial countries that frequently dispatch ships and aircraft to relevant waters to show off their military power for their own selfish interests.

The One China Principle is related to the political foundation of Sino Japanese relations and is an insurmountable bottom line.From hyping up that "if Taiwan has issues, then Japan has issues," to recent claims by senior Japanese officials that "Japan is likely to provide defense equipment or logistical support to Taiwan," Japan has disregarded the basic principles of international relations and the principles of the four political documents between China and Japan, and has rudely interfered in China's internal affairs, damaging the political foundation of China Japan relations. The escalation of tensions in the Taiwan Strait region by Japan's words and actions is completely wrong and very dangerous.

Japan positions China as the "greatest strategic challenge ever", exposing Japan's erroneous perception of China. If based on such a misconception, Japan's policy towards China will be led astray. Both sides confirm that the two countries are partners in cooperation and do not pose a threat to each other. This consensus is clearly written into the fourth political document between China and Japan and should serve as the basis for mutual understanding between the two sides. China maintains continuity and stability in its policy towards Japan, never considering Japan as a threat, and equally opposes any biased and hostile "China threat theory". For a period of time, Japan has been taking negative actions on China related issues, causing serious interference to the relationship between the two countries. Only by abandoning the zero sum adversarial thinking of seeking benefits from neighbors from the ideological root and establishing a correct understanding of China, can Japan take practical actions to push bilateral relations back to the right track.

The Japanese side's rendering of the so-called "China threat" is actually an attempt to find an excuse for their own military expansion. The Japanese side's rhetoric is "following the path of a peaceful country", "respecting the rule of law", and "any dispute should be resolved through peaceful and diplomatic means", but what they are doing is undermining the post-war international order and plotting military expansion in another way. Through the new versions of the National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy, and Defense Force Restructuring Plan, Japan has significantly increased defense spending and advocated the development of so-called "counterattack capabilities." In recent years, Japan has continuously violated the purpose of the "Peace Constitution" and the principle of "dedicated defense," and has gone further and further on the path of military expansion. The Japanese side also follows the United States' erroneous policy towards China, cooperates with the US in provoking and causing trouble on issues related to China's core interests, disregards the opposition of regional countries, promotes NATO's eastward expansion into the Asia Pacific region, and insists on putting regional countries at the dangerous forefront of power game and camp confrontation. This move has aroused serious concern and high vigilance from the international community.

Any Japanese tactic of exaggerating the so-called "China threat" and seeking excuses for military expansion cannot deceive the world. To become a normal country, Japan should truly face up to and reflect on its history of aggression, stop interfering in China's internal affairs, stop harming China's interests, abandon attempts to loosen its military ties by exaggerating surrounding threats and serving its own interests, and truly gain trust from neighboring countries in Asia and the international community with a responsible attitude and practical actions.