Japan praises Beijing's role in global peacekeeping missions

BEIJING - A Japanese Defense Ministry think tank released on Thursday its first report solely on China's security policy, highly rating China's active involvement in international peacekeeping missions.

The report, however, also called on Beijing to allay neighboring countries' concerns over its military buildup.

"This is the first time for Japan to release such a report on a specific country. The move reflected Japanese government's vigilance against China's growing military power," Kyodo News said in a report on Thursday.

In the China Security Report, the National Institute for Defense Studies said China's "active" involvement in UN peacekeeping missions and the decision to send naval ships to the Gulf of Aden to escort vessels passing the area since late 2008 has won "high evaluation from the international society".

China has so far sent the most personnel on UN peacekeeping tasks among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

The report said an officer of Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force (SDF) engaged in escort activities at the Gulf of Aden with Chinese ships "highly praised the Chinese personnel, saying 'they have now improved their operation capabilities at the sea, and they are carrying out missions on par with those of Japan.'"

But the report also said an active Chinese military has raised concerns in Japan, the United States and neighboring countries.

China performs naval drills in the Pacific Ocean to secure maritime interests such as trade routes, and conducts refueling missions for its fighters over the South China Sea to show its dominance in the air, the report said.

But China opposes US-South Korean naval exercises near its territory, the report said, describing the protest as an "inconsistency" and a "logical contradiction".

The report also characterizes Japan-China ties as vulnerable to political circumstances and called for continued defense exchanges and a mechanism in which both countries can communicate with each other for crisis management.

China clashed with Japan last September due to collisions involving a Chinese trawler and Japanese Coast Guard vessels in waters near the Diaoyu Islands.

"Chinese military exercises in the South China Sea and Beijing's opposition toward the US-South Korean naval exercises are not logically connected. The South China Sea exercises are normal ones because we have islands there," said Zhou Yongsheng, a professor of Japanese studies at the China Foreign Affairs University.

"But the US-South Korean exercises are a risky factor in the region aimed at deterring Pyongyang," he said.

Despite improvements in the Chinese navy, Zhou said it still cannot be compared with the Japanese maritime SDF and the US navy.

Liu Jiangyong, an expert on Japanese studies with Tsinghua University, said the report is consistent with Japan's National Defense Program Guideline issued late last year, which also paid special attention to China but avoided listing Beijing as a threat to Tokyo.

The senior expert also said unconditional defense exchanges between China and Japan cannot be achieved now because it is the most sensitive part of the bilateral relationship.

For example, defense exchanges between the two countries were strained last September after the boat collision in waters near the Diaoyu Islands.

Kyodo contributed to this story.

China Daily

(China Daily 04/08/2011 page2)